Reprisal
by NinaRoja
Summary: Sequel to my story "Captive", please read it first! A vengeful Scar, after losing his grip over the Pride Lands, forms an allegiance with the Outsiders, an infamous and highly dangerous group of rogue lions. The Pride don't know it yet, but things are about to get a whole lot worse, just when they thought they'd seen it all. AU -ABANDONED- (see final chapter for details)
1. Prologue

**HELLO MY LOVELIES!**

**I couldn't keep away from you for long… so I'm back! I discovered that I need to write; it's my way of relaxing after long stressful days, and believe me, they've been stressful. Updates for this story will be much farther between than before because of… dun dun dun… MOCK GCSES!**

**Yes, they are mocks, but they are still important, so I'm going to have to start revising in the next week or two, which is a shame. I don't want to, but I have to. Ugh, school is hard.**

**HELLO NEWCOMERS!**

**If you haven't already read my story "Captive", STOP! Go back and read it, otherwise you won't get this at all! **

**However, if you can't be bothered, here's a summary of the last story…**

_Somehow, Mufasa managed to survive the stampede. Scar's latest plan was in ruins; he'd be exiled for sure. But, he thought quick, and used Simba as a leverage to get Mufasa to stand down as King, allowing Scar to assume the throne. Simba was held hostage in Scar's den for six moons (months) and meanwhile, Scar made everyone else's lives a living nightmare, including those of Mufasa, Sarabi and his un-willing mate Arianna._

_With the help of Sarafina's mate Ni, Mufasa managed to overthrow Scar and rescue Simba, although Ni died in the process whilst trying to save Simba himself. Scar and his hyenas left and everything is at peace…_

_Or is it?_

_They don't know it yet, but everything's about to get a hell of a lot worse._

_So, I present to you…_

**REPRISAL**

Prologue

The outlands.

A land of lost hopes and unforgiving heat.

A brown pelted lion was trudging across the barren wasteland, dehydrated beyond measure and dying for sure. For nearly an entire week he had been wandering, not knowing where he was or where he was going.

His name… was Scar.

He had a dark, limp mane, and a slash over his left eye, supposedly where the name had come from. Until recently, he had been continuing his six moon long reign over the Pridelands, but now, it was over. His brother had seen to that.

His brother. Even the thought of him made his blood boil. He had taken back his throne and driven Scar out, all for the sake of that little brat. Though he was dead now, luckily, as far as Scar knew. He had hatched plan after plan to regain his title, but now he didn't know if he could even manage it. He was so weak from lack of food and exhaustion. Finally, he couldn't walk anymore, and fell down onto the ground.

It wasn't fair, he thought to himself, all his life he had been the second best. Second place, second choice… his brother had always been better than him, at everything.

Once again, the thought of him caused Scar to fly into a rage. He struggled to his feet, snarling all the while. That was it, he was getting his throne back. It WAS his, he deserved it…

But he would need help…

His hyenas were gone. Most of them had run away during the fight, and the ones who remained… he had made them leave…

"Go away!" he had shouted, "Worthless creatures!"

And they had, leaving him quite alone. There was no way they would ever come back to him.

And then, an idea hit him. They would need some convincing, but, they were perfect for the job.

"Look out, Mufasa," Scar muttered, "I'm coming for you."

**So…?**

**Next update will be… soon, but I don't know.**


	2. Trouble in Paradise

**Hey everyone! I'm really excited about this story. I've pretty much worked out the plot, so here we go!**

**By the way, do you like the title? It took me forever to think of one, but I really wanted to continue with the "one word" thing. I was originally going to call it "Reprise", as in to repeat, but ended up going with "reprisal", which, according to my dictionary, means "an act of retaliation". Oooooohhh…**

Chapter One: Trouble in Paradise

Far away, at Pride Rock, all was not at peace. A terrible cry was echoing around the walls of the dark cave, causing all those who heard it great distress. The disturbance was coming from the back of the den, but could still be heard all around.

King Mufasa and his mate Sarabi could do nothing but ignore the noise, for it wasn't the first time they had heard it. This was a nightly occurrence. The cries were coming from their son, Simba, who had until a week ago been trapped in his Uncle Scar's lair, and been subjected to abuse and horror unlike anyone had ever faced. In the week since he had escaped, his sleep was plagued by terrifying nightmares. They were scarily vivid, and trying to wake him up was useless. He wouldn't respond to any of his parent's attempts to calm him down. When he finally awoke he would be shaking and crying hysterically, eyes wide with terror.

Seeing her cub in such distress was taking a toll on Sarabi. As he thrashed in between her and Mufasa, squealing in fright and sobbing, she could do nothing to help him but be ready to comfort him when he was finally released from the terrifying apparition. He hadn't left her side all week, terrified of the slightest noises and panicking if he became too far away from her. She knew her son needed her now more than ever, but something was troubling her.

She was pregnant again.

She had been so caught up in the past six moon's events that she hadn't even noticed the changes taking place in her body. It had only been around two weeks ago that she had realised, when her belly was already beginning to swell. The cubs would be born in less than a moons time, but what would that mean for Simba? She didn't know how she would be able to divide her attention between her newborns and her eldest cub when all of them were in desperate need of her.

Mufasa knew that Sarabi was expecting. Despite feeling happy to know that he was going to be someone else's father, he couldn't help but worry what this was going to mean for his son. How would he react to new cubs in his current psychological state? Would he feel like his mother was abandoning him for his new siblings? Sighing, he tried to push the troubling thoughts out of his mind. Looking to his side, he saw that Simba had regained consciousness, his breathing ragged and shallow. Sarabi was trying to comfort him.

"It's OK, honeytree, I'm here," she soothed.

She looked concernedly at Mufasa before directing all her attention to Simba, who was pressed up against her side, wide eyed and looking petrified. Mufasa moved a little closer to him to make him feel more secure. When Simba had finally calmed down, his concerned parents were able to relax again somewhat. They waited until he was asleep again before closing their eyes and drifting off, too.

Mercifully, Simba made it through the rest of the night without having any more bad dreams, though he was still very unsettled. He kept waking up, his head full of memories from his terrifying experience. Try as he might, he couldn't forget them. He had seen some truly horrific things that would probably stay with him for the rest of his life, and it was awful for him. The dark was the thing that scared him the most now. He had been immersed in it for so long, he couldn't help but associate the pitch black inside the den at night with the horrible things that had happened to him. He opened his eyes to the early morning sunlight shining across his face from the den entrance. But, there was something terribly wrong. His parents were gone from either side of him, and there was no one else in the den. He was all alone, and all the memories and panic came flooding back to him.

With a cry of fear he bolted for the den entrance ran outside. He saw his mother and Sarafina sitting at the end of the promontory of Pride Rock, and he sprinted over to them, skidding to a halt and sliding in between his mother's front paws, whimpering in fear.

"Simba, I didn't know you were awake. I would have stayed otherwise…"

Simba didn't answer, instead just continued to tremble.

Sarafina had Nala and Mheetu with her.

Nala cocked her head and looked at Simba.

"Want to come and play?" she asked him.

He shook his head firmly.

"Go on, Simba," Sarabi coaxed. He hadn't left her side for a week. She didn't want him to stay hanging around her forever.

He looked up at her fearfully, but didn't argue. He cautiously crept out from under her and ran off with Nala.

Watching them go, Sarafina turned to Sarabi.

"So, how are you feeling?" she asked, beginning to lick Mheetu in between the ears. She knew about Sarabi being pregnant

Sarabi sighed.

"Fine," she muttered, "but I don't know how Simba will take it. He's only been back for a little while, what if he thinks I'm abandoning him?"

"Don't worry, if he's anything like Nala he'll be fine. Ni always said that-"

She trailed off, looking distant. Her ears drooped slightly.

"Are you okay?" Sarabi asked her friend worriedly.

"Fine," Sarafina murmured, "just fine…"

Simba and Nala were running towards the watering hole, which was gradually beginning to fill up with water again. It had rained a lot since Scar had left, and the herds were returning. It seemed that the Pride lands were slowly coming back to life. Despite Nala talking away to him, Simba was very subdued, and much quieter than he would have been before. Something about him had changed, and Nala could tell.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"…yeah," he trailed, "I'm fine."

"Do you think I don't know you or something?"

"What?"

"You're not fine at all!"

He just looked at the ground, and didn't reply. He just didn't know what to say to her.

"Look, I don't know what happened while you were in there…" she began, but stopped. Simba's eyes were widening at the thought of it.

"… but I really missed you."

He looked up.

"You did?"

"Yeah, we all did! Why would you think we didn't? We're your friends!"

"I don't know…" he murmured.

They finally reached the waterhole where the other cubs already were.

"Hey! Guys!"

They all turned and looked over at them. Among them, Simba saw Chumvi, a large gash across his forehead. In an instant, he was bolting over to him.

"!"

Simba took a step back, but Chumvi was unperturbed, and collided with him. They sprawled across the ground and skidded to a halt.

"I CAN'T BEELLLIIIEEEEEVVVEEE IT!" Chumvi was yelling, "IT'S YOU!"

"It's me…?" Simba said, awkwardly.

The others had come running over, all chattering at once, full of questions and greetings and all sorts of other stuff that Simba couldn't make out.

"QUIET YOU LOT!" Chumvi screamed above the clamour, "let him talk!"

Simba was taken aback by the way they were all acting. From his dream, he was certain that they had all forgotten him, but now it was clearly not the case. Though, he still felt slightly awkward among them. He had been away for so long, he didn't know what he had missed or what they were all at.

"Um…" he didn't know what to say to them all, "it feels… it feels good to be back…"

He said it very half heartedly, he wouldn't have been surprised if they didn't believe him. Despite this, they were all still enthusiastic.

From this, Simba hoped he'd have a good rest of the day, which was mostly true. It was when the sun was just starting to fall behind the mountain that it happened.

As the cubs were having a playfight over an empty turtle shell, the over-excitedness of some of them caused it to go spinning away into the undergrowth.

Simba, who was finally getting back into the ease of being with his friends again, called out "I'll get it!"

He went running after it, not a care in the world, and stopped suddenly.

The shell had gone spinning into a little cave formed from some rocks. He peered into it, but in the fading light it was almost pitch black inside.

"Come on, Simba!"

"Be brave!" he whispered to himself, "just be _brave_!"

But he couldn't be. He tried to take a step forward, but just let put a whimper of fear. A terrifying image of a dark lion flashed in his mind, so vivid he might actually be standing in front of him. The cub screwed his eyes shut, but it only intensified. In sheer terror he screamed, and everything went black.


	3. Gaining Allegiance

GCSES! THE HORROR! THE PAIN! THE DELAYED FANFICTION UPDATES!

Chapter Two: Gaining Allegiance

The next thing Simba knew, he was in complete blackness, and had no idea where he was. He seemed to be on the ground, though he felt no grass or dirt beneath his paws. Was this rock? Maybe he was at pride rock.

But, Pride Rock was never this dark. There was always moonlight coming in through the cave entrance. The only place he'd ever been in this dark was-

Oh Gods. Oh Sweet Aiheu. Please no.

"Chumvi?" He shouted into the darkness, "Nala?"

All he heard was the unending silence.

He breathing became shallow and ragged, and he began to shake violently. He turned his head this way and that, trying to see something, anything, but it was no use.

Suddenly, two green orbs appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. They hung in mid-air just a short distance away, glowing softly. Yet, they didn't seem to be lighting up the surrounding area. Still, Simba began to move towards them, hoping that they might help him find his way out somehow.

He stared up at them as he got closer. They were the most curious thing he had ever seen in his entire life. He reached up a paw to touch one.

His paw was mere inches from contact, when suddenly, a little black dot appeared on each of the floating green things. The cub watched confusedly as they widened slightly, and then elongated into large black slits . The orbs then began to contract, and shrank, before yellow circles began to form around them. What on earth was happening?

And then, before he could thin anything else, he heard laughing. Not funny laughter, but completely evil, cold, triumphant laughter.

And then he realised. These weren't orbs. They were eyes. And he instantly knew who's they were.

Suddenly, the laughter became louder, and what could only have been lightning flashed around the vicinity. There was no doubting it now. This was Scar's den, and, standing directly in front of Simba, sneering and showing every single one of his sharp teeth, was Scar.

He didn't even say a word, instead just continued to smirk down at the terrified cub.

In a blind panic, Simba turned and ran, but he collided heavily with the stone wall.

The laughter returned, and Scar began to walk towards Simba. Simba quickly ran to the other side of the den, and crashed into the wall once again. He ran all over the tiny cave, and every time his skull would smash into the hard rock, leaving him dazed for a few seconds. All the while, Scar never gave chase. He just continued to slowly walk after the panicked Simba. Still he ran, but he found he was hitting the walls much more often. Oh Gods, they were closing in, and he was running out of room to get away from his pursuer.

Finally, there was no more room to run. He hit the wall, and turned to face his oppressor. Words could not describe the terror he felt looking at him, at his petrifying grin, at his piercing eyes, at the sound of his cold laugh on his ears.

The walls were still contracting, and as Simba was pressed up against one, he was being pushed closer and closer to Scar, who now just stood and waited for him to come nearer. When at last the cub was at Scar's feet, he let out an explosive laugh. It continued for what seemed like a life time, until he finally raised his paw into the air, ready to strike. Simba watched it come down, nearing his face… it was mere inches away…

And, where it should have hit him, his eyes flew open, and in the blur all he could hear was the sound of his own screaming. He screwed up his eyes, and just let his body convulse and thrash of its own accord.

"Simba. Simba!"

Someone had placed a paw on his back. He let out a cry as he felt it touch him, but it was gentle, it didn't hurt like he had expected it to. He opened his eyes to see his father beside him, pulling him closer. He was inside Pride Rock, in between his parents, moonlight streaming in through the den entrance. He pressed himself up against Mufasa's warm side, determined never to leave it. An icy chill had come over him, and it just made him shake even harder.

Mufasa waited for his son to fall asleep again before putting his head down again. He was more concerned than ever, especially since the day's events. He had been on patrol when Nala had come to him, looking panicked. She had lead him to where the cubs had been playing, to find Simba passed out on the ground. He didn't know what had caused it, but he was sure it had something to do with what he had been through.

He cast a look over at Sarabi. His eyes travelled downwards to her belly, which was swollen and round. Those cubs would be here soon, he was sure of it. He hoped that all the stress of the past week hadn't been putting a strain on her. He didn't want anything to happen to their unborn children. But, what about Simba? He needed help for sure to get out of this cycle. He was to be king, after all, but he was in no state for it right now. Sighing, he licked Sarabi's ear and rested his head on his paws. He would think about it more later.

A long way away from Pride Rock, Scar was on a mission. He would need back up if he were to infiltrate Pride Rock and regain power, and he knew just the place he would find it.

They were called the outsiders.

A vicious group of male lions who had been cast away from their prides and formed an alliance with each other, known for their ferocity and feared by most. Many a lioness would tell her cubs that, unless they behaved, the outsiders would get them, and in some ways it was true. They were known to have killed cubs in the past as revenge. Perfect. Once Scar was back on top he would set about cleansing the pride and starting afresh.

He could tell he was nearly there, due to the strong lion scent and paw prints in the sandy earth. It was a hell hole, but he would need to continue if he hoped to make progress.

He had only been walking for a minute, when he heard a blood-curdling snarl from behind him. Whirling around, he was just in time to become face to face with three growling lions. And they were huge.

"Who are you, stranger?" one inquired. There was no mistaking the extreme hostility in his voice.

"I-" Scar stammered. He knew these lions were tough, but he hadn't expected this at all.

He took a deep breath.

"I am Scar," he said, somewhat confidently, "I wish to speak to your leader."

"What does someone like you want with Damu?"

"I wish to enlist his help."

The three lions began to laugh.

"He doesn't "help" anyone."

"Not unless they have a good reason."

"And something that he wants."

Scar paused to think for a bit. He needed to meet this "Damu", urgently.

"I think I may have that."

"Well, if you're _absolutely_ sure. He doesn't do well when people bother him for no reason."

They walked ahead of him.

"Follow us."

Scar followed the three of them for what seemed forever, but they finally arrived at a group of dens, fashioned from rocks and fallen logs. They were all in a circle with a communal area in the centre of them. There were lions everywhere of all sizes and colours and every possible demeanor. Some were chomping on bones, others fighting, and others just lying on the ground. Scar could tell, he definitely wasn't in the Pridelands anymore.

They led him to by far the largest den. It must have been about three times the size of the others, and had what looked like some sort of animal hide draped over the entrance.

"Wait here," said one of the lions.

He entered, and Scar strained to hear what was being said inside the cave. He hoped that he wouldn't be sent away without an opportunity to speak with the leader.

The lion emerged from the den.

"He has agreed to speak with you. But don't take too long. He hates that."

Nodding, Scar entered the den, not knowing what he was going to find when he got there.

"You wanted to speak with me?" came a voice out of the gloom. It made Scar jump.

"Er… yes. I- I am Scar. I wish to ask for your help in something."

There was a pause.

"You want _my_ help?"

"Yes… sir," he hastily added.

"I don't "help" anyone."

"I've heard," Scar muttered.

Then the lion stepped into view. He was absolutely gigantic, even bigger than Mufasa. His entire face and body was covered in scars and numerous battle marks. You could tell just by looking at him that he wasn't one to mess with.

"Well what exactly did you want _help _with?"

Scar took a deep breath.

"It's my brother," he said, "he took what is rightfully mine."

"And what might that be?"

"My title."

There was a moment's pause.

"So what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to help overthrow him. There's absolutely no way that I could-"

"What's in it for us?"

Scar stopped to think for a minute. What _was _in it for them?

"Females."

Damu looked impressed.

"Females, eh?"

He stopped to think.

"Only woman 'round here's Zira," he said, "but nobody messes with her."

"Oh, I think the females in my pride are much more," he searched for the right word, "_submissive." _

Damu began to circle Scar.

"You _may_ have our alligeance," he said, "but you'll have to prove to us that you'll be worth our while."

"I promise you I'll-"

"I DIDN'T ASK YOU TO SPEAK!"

Scar shrank back slightly.

"Tell me, what was your brother's name?"

"Mufasa."

That one word appeared to have a profound impact on Damu. His entire face was twisted into a fierce glare.

"_Him…"_

"What about him?"

"JUST GO!" Damu roared, "I might tell you later."

With that, Scar hastily left the den.


	4. Spies

**I HATE SHAKESPEARE.**

**Oh, and DJ, sorry for not answering your question before. The characters DO age, but as I specified in the last one, this story isn't going to be factually accurate. If it were, Simba would be an adolescent/adult by now. Let's just say this story does not religiously follow the true lifespan of the lion (it takes longer for them to mature etc.)**

**For the full "not factually accurate" rant, see the last story.**

Chapter Three: Spies

"_I awake to see that no one is free__  
><em>_We're all fugitives__  
><em>_Look at the way we live__  
><em>_Down here I cannot sleep from fear no__  
><em>_I said which way do I turn__  
><em>_I forget everything I learned_

_But the spies came out of the water__  
><em>_But you're feeling so bad cos you know__  
><em>_But the spies hide out in every corner,__  
><em>_But you can't touch them no__  
><em>_Cos they're all spies…"_

-Coldplay, Spies

Simba awoke abruptly the next night, from yet another nightmare. They got worse every time, more vivid, more frightening, longer… he didn't think he would be able to take much more.

What he wouldn't give to be his old self again. The old Simba wasn't afraid of anything. The old Simba laughed in the face of danger. The old Simba – he didn't know who that was any more. He had been through things that he would carry with him forever.

Hours passed, and he stayed awake, watching as the darkness of the den gradually became a hazy orange. Something about the light drew him in, away from the dark cave. He stood up on shaky legs and climbed over his father, and headed for the exit of the den. It had been a while since he'd been anywhere on his own, he was amazed he was doing it. He emerged into the light, and walked to the end of the promontory, surveying the landscape. It was gradually coming back to life; since the rain had returned, signs of green were beginning to creep back, and the herds had started to reappear. It was in stark contrast to how it had been while Scar had been in power…

Scar… even the name made him shudder. Thinking back all those moons ago, he had trusted his uncle, and had even run straight into his open arms. That was how he had gotten caught in the first place. He decided to be much more wary from now on. He had been manipulated, taunted and tortured for so long, he couldn't bear to remember it, but he couldn't help it. It felt as though the memories had been permanently stuck there.

"Simba?"

The sudden noise caused him to jump, and he instinctively leapt back, nearly falling over the side of Pride Rock in his haste. He then realised his father was standing in front of him.

"What are you doing?" he asked, gently.

The cub looked at his feet.

"Nothing," he mumbled.

Mufasa sat down beside him, and looked out over the Pride Lands. They were healing well, he thought. He wasn't so sure about Simba, though.

"Are you OK, Simba?"

There was a slight pause.

"…I'm fine."

Mufasa sighed.

"I don't think you are. Why won't you tell me what's bothering you?"

There was an even longer pause. Simba seemed to be finding his paws very interesting.

"Simba?"

He finally looked up, his eyes filled with tears.

"…I'm scared," he finally said, as they started to spill over, "I'm scared he's gonna come back for me…"

Tiny sobs began to emit from his mouth, as terror filled him again. Mufasa was filled with pity for him; he couldn't imagine what a toll this must be taking on his son.

"Simba, do you remember what I told you last week?"

The cub sniffed, "no."

"I told you that I wasn't going to let anything happen to you. Not ever again. And I meant it."

Simba didn't say anything for a moment, he was still feeling shaken.

"…I still dream about him… every night-"

His breaths became jagged again as the thought of Scar returned. Even though he was gone, his shadow still seemed to loom over him.

Mufasa felt his blood boil at the thought of his brother. He was completely to blame, for everything that had happened. It was his fault that Simba was like this, his fault that the Pride Lands had nearly been destroyed for good, his fault that two cubs no longer had a father, and that a lioness no longer had a mate…

It had been a while since he had thought about Ni, but he missed having him around. He had only known him for a short time, but he felt closer to him than he had ever felt to Scar. He wished he could have had some other male company around the place, but, for now, anyway, that wasn't an option.

He stood up and prepared to leave. He had Kingly duties to attend to.

Simba suddenly looked up.

"W-where are you going?"

"I've got things to do, Simba."

"…Can I come with you?"

Mufasa paused.

"…Please?"

He let his face soften, "okay."

Simba smiled briefly, before standing up and trotting after his father.

The previous night, in the outlands, Scar was slowly but surely winning the trust of the outsiders. He had yet to meet the mysterious and illusive Zira, but Damu was being won over because of Mufasa. He wondered what linked his brother and the leader, but he was sure he would find out eventually.

Life in this new "pride" of sorts was much harder than it had ever been in the Pride lands. Of the little amount of prey there was, you had to fight if you wanted any. There was a strict social hierarchy as well – in his old home, Mufasa had been leader, and the others all equal. Not here, though. Scar was at the bottom of the heap here, and it looked as though he would have to work his way up. It seemed to be working though. He spent so much time with Damu that he seemed to be gaining his trust, slowly but surely.

"Scar!"

He looked up and around.

It was Damu.

"Get over here!"

Scar wasn't used to being ordered around, but he quickly leapt up and dashed over to him. He followed Damu inside of his den, and into the darkness.

As his eyes adjusted he saw that they were not alone. There were 3 other lions standing behind Damu. Though they weren't as strong looking as Damu, they were all pretty huge and foreboding. A fight with one of them would not end well…

Damu turned to face Scar, who looked intently into his scarred face. His eyes were two different colours; one red and the other a luminous green, rather like Scar's own. Still, it was extremely unsettling to look into them.

"These are my most loyal and trusted allies," he said, "I thought that you could, oh, I don't know, make use of them?"

Scar looked at them all properly. They were all scarred as well, and muscular, though each one had a different distinguishing feature: one had a jet black pelt, but had the reddest eyes that Scar had ever seen. They reminded anyone who saw them of blood. The next only had one ear, as if the other had simply been ripped off. Then, Scar realised, that was probably the case. The last one had a large portion of his tail missing, so that it was barely more than a stump. Scar didn't like to think about what had happened to it, but it made him shiver. He tucked his own firmly between his legs, as though something may happen to it at any moment.

Damu motioned towards the lion with the red eyes.

"Moto."

The missing ear.

"Hasira."

The severed tail.

"Kuzimu."

These lions were fierce, Scar thought. The very sight of them was enough to put him on edge.

"How can we be of _assistance?_" asked Hasira, smoothly.

Scar puffed himself up, wanting to make a good impression on them.

"Go to the Pride Lands," he said, trying to sound as confident as possible, "find out what my brother is doing. Then we can work out how to over throw him."

The words "my brother" caused Damu to let out a growl.

"Go," he said to them.

"Wait a minute," said the one named Kuzimu, "what's in it for us?"

"I told you," said Damu, "_females. _Scar tells me there are many."

He looked to Scar to confirm this.

"Yes," he crooned, "yes, there are many."

"What about cubs?"

"Oh, it's not like they can't be disposed of easily enough."

"True," said Hasira, "we know that."

And with that, the three of them set off into the fading light.

"Hasira once killed three cubs in one blow," said Damu, absent mindedly, "and speaking of, just how many are there?"

Scar rapidly counted.

"About ten or so." Scar mused, "but I did away with one."

"Oh really?"

"It was my brother's son, actually."

Damu looked somewhat impressed.

"And, speaking of my brother," Scar began, "what is it about him that makes you so-"

Damu's face immediately became very dangerous.

"Never mind that," he muttered, "now get out."

"But-"

"GET OUT BEFORE I MAKE YOU!"

With that, Scar quickly scrambled from the den.

Back to the next day, Simba was accompanying Mufasa around the kingdom as he attended to his duties. Mufasa had hoped that he might return to his former self, but it wasn't the case. The cub was still extremely nervous, not leaving his father's side once. The slightest noise made him jump, and any unknown movement sent him into a frenzy of fear. The old Simba would have been running around, investigating everything, sticking his face into every bush and patch of grass. But not any more.

After several hours of this, Mufasa lay down to rest. Simba lay down beside him, but would not relax. He was extremely alert, and his eyes were wide, ready to let him know if danger was near. The adult lion hated to see his son this way, but could only hope things would soon change as the cub readjusted to being free.

"Simba," he said. The cub jumped, but soon realised it was all right.

"Yeah?"

"Do you know where baby lions come from?"

Once again, Simba hesitated before answering.

"… sort of."

That conversation could wait until another time, Mufasa thought.

"And you've seen Sarafina with Mheetu, haven't you?"

"Yeah."

"Well," Mufasa began, "how would you feel about your mother being that way?"

Simba looked up at him, puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

Mufasa smiled back at him, to show him it was OK.

"Your mother is going to have more cubs!"

He smiled again, but Simba just looked back at him. The cub was remembering the dream from all those moons ago. He remembered Hodari, and how everyone had cared more about him than about Simba. And it had felt horrible.

"More cubs?"

"Yes," Mufasa replied, "Isn't it great? You're going to have some brothers or sisters!"

"… I suppose."

Simba didn't sound convinced. Mufasa had been afraid that he would react this way.

However, before he could say anything else, there was a snap, coming from the grass nearby.

Simba leapt to his feet, and squealed in terror, jumping behind his father.

Mufasa was on his feet too, staring in the direction from which the sound had come. Something with a black pelt was hiding in the grass, and, as he began to creep closer, teeth bared, the stench of a strange lion filled his nostrils. Growling, he turned to Simba.

"Stay here, Simba."

And with that, he bounded off into the grass.

"No! Wait! Don't leave me!" cried Simba, but it was too late. His father was gone.

Mufasa sprinted after the strange lion. His claws were unsheathed, ready for a fight, but the stranger didn't turn to fight, instead he kept running.

With a roar, Mufasa leapt through the air, and landed on the lion's back. As he prepared to sink his teeth into his shoulder, he was thrown off, hitting the ground hard with a thud. As he shook his head, trying to clear it, he stood up again. He watched the other lion's retreating back, giving a roar to warn him to not return. He was confused as to why the lion had run without a fight. Was he a spy? He couldn't shake the feeling that he may have something to do with Scar, but he pushed the thought away as he headed back to Simba. The cub was trembling with fear.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Don't worry about it," Mufasa replied, "it was only a rogue. But he's gone now."

Then, before Simba could react, there was a squawk. They both looked up, and saw Zazu flying as fast as he could towards them.

"Morning report, Zazu?" asked Mufasa.

The bird hit the ground, severely out of breath and barely able to speak.

The king was suddenly concerned.

"It's… It's…"

"_WHAT'S _it Zazu?"

"QUEEN SARABI!" Zazu choked, "SHE'S-"

But he didn't finish, Mufasa's eyes had widened.

"Oh my gods…" he muttered. He already knew what Zazu meant.

"Take Simba home, Zazu," he gabbled, before running off.

"Dad, what's…?"

"You'll see soon, Simba!" he called over his shoulder as he sprinted away. His mind was filled with worry. This shouldn't be happening. Something must have been terribly wrong, this shouldn't be happening for another two weeks at the very least.

As he ran, the same two words were drumming through his head, like some bizarre mantra.

_Sarabi. Cubs._


	5. New Life

**THIS COULD BE THE LAST UPDATE FOR A WHILE.**

**I hate to say it, but it's true. We were given the timetable for the mock GCSEs on Thursday just past, and I need to start revising in two days time (Monday 12th December). It's going to take up most if not all of my time, and any days I take off are going to be Christmas/New Years, so I won't be able to update then either. If I find ever a smidge of time I will try to get a chapter done and uploaded but I just don't know if that will be possible. I'm just telling you this so you don't think I've given up. I haven't and WON'T EVER, because I enjoy writing these stories FAR too much.**

**Anyway, ONWARD!**

**.Loud**

**See what I wrote up there? It makes me laugh. I wrote it about a month ago. I haven't revised at all. Go me. I've been busy doing absolutely NOTHING. **

Chapter Four: New Life

Things were different when the Queen was giving birth. All the other lions in the Pride had to leave the den as a sign of respect, and only the King and her mother or close friend were allowed to remain with her. As Mufasa sprinted across the Pride Lands towards Pride Rock, all other thought had left his mind other than to get to Sarabi and make sure she was okay. There was supposed to be another two weeks until this was happening, what if something was wrong?

He bounded up the stone steps in three strides and skidded into the den, not caring who he banged into in the process.

Sarabi was lying at the side of the den, with Sarafina bending over her, whispering something in her ear.

"I'm here!" he cried, "did I miss anything?"

"Not yet," Sarafina replied, "but I think it's about to start…"

All the while, Sarabi was crying out. She was in sheer agony as the contractions intensified. Mufasa lay down at her head and placed a paw on her back.

"I'm here, honeytree."

When Zazu and Simba arrived at Pride Rock, the pride was assembled outside. The lionesses were murmuring excitedly to one another, but none of them paid any attention to Simba. Even the other cubs were sitting by their mothers, completely subdued. Simba was confused. What was going on?

"Zazu, what's happening?" he asked the bird.

Zazu beamed back at him.

"You'll see soon enough, young master."

_Why won't anyone tell me what's going on? _Simba thought angrily. He felt he deserved to know, whatever it was, it was to do with his own mother.

He was thinking this, when a scream issued from within the den. Sweet Aiheu, something terrible must be happening!

He made to run into the cave, but Zazu stopped him.

"No, Simba, you can't go in there!"

"WHY NOT?" Simba screamed, "WHY WON'T YOU TELL ME? WHY WON'T ANYONE TELL ME ANYTHING?"

Zazu looked rather taken aback at the cub's sudden outburst.

"I'm sorry, Zazu," he said, ears drooping, "I didn't mean it."

"I know," he replied, "you'll know soon."

And so began an agonizing wait. Cries came from the den at regular intervals, causing the cub to tense up and fear the worst. He paced up and down the Pride Rock promontory, watching the animals down below going about their daily lives. They probably knew more about what was happening than he did, even though probably weren't aware the thing was even happening. Simba sat down as he watched them, thinking about what his father had told him earlier on. More cubs? He couldn't help but think about the dream he had had, all those moons ago, trapped in the eternal darkness of Scar's den alone. What if once they were born, everyone ignored him like they had in the dream?

More time passed, and he found that was all he could think about. Worry consumed his entire being. Would this mean he wouldn't become King anymore? Would all his friends turn on him for his new siblings? Would everyone just think they were better than Simba was? Probably. They probably wouldn't get scared of the dark. They probably wouldn't have nightmares every single night. They probably wouldn't be too scared to go anywhere on their own. But, they probably wouldn't have to go through what Simba had been through. Nobody knew what had happened to him while he was holed up in Scar's den, all alone. Nobody had to spend what felt like a lifetime in complete blackness, with no one for company but the one who wanted you dead, and had nearly made it so…

He was suddenly angry at all of them. They didn't understand, and they probably never would.

With a little growl of indignance, he went marching back towards the congregated lions, with every intention of telling them exactly how he felt… but he wasn't able to. Sarafina had just appeared in the den entrance, her face beamed in a smile.

She looked at Simba.

"You can go in now, Simba."

She stepped out of the way, and Simba quickly scuttled past her, intent on finding out exactly what had been happening.

He entered the den, to find it completely empty, apart from his parents, who were over at the side. His father was very intent on something, but he couldn't see what it was, as he was bent over his mother. He approached them, displaying extreme caution, not knowing what he was going to find.

Mufasa looked up at Simba, and smiled, before stepping out of the way so he could come closer.

An exhausted Sarabi beamed at Simba, and shifted a foreleg to reveal something to him.

He just stared at what he saw. Two tiny little bundles of fur were lying in between his mother's paws, eyes sealed shut, quietly mewling as they lay beside each other. So this is what all the commotion had been about.

"Meet your new brother and sister," she whispered.

He couldn't speak, but glanced over at his father, who looked on proudly from beside them.

"…What – what are their names?" was all he could manage to say.

"This," Sarabi said, nudging the cub on the left, "is your brother, Kobe."

Kobe wriggled as she touched him, and squealed louder than before.

"And this," she nudged the other cub, "is your sister, Shanni."

Simba could only stare, captivated by the tiny forms before him. He didn't notice his father coming nearer, or the rest of the pride entering the den to come and take in the results of the last hour's events. A thought at the back of his mind, of abandonment and isolation, began to flare up, but he pushed it away for now. He would deal with that when the time came. Beside him, Mufasa silently nodded to Zazu, who took flight into the kingdom to tell the good news.

The sun was just beginning to set, and Scar was all alone, trying to hatch plan after plan as to how to take over the pridelands once more. Each one was scrapped for one reason or another, but once the spies returned he would know better what state his old home was in, and how best to infiltrate it. He was in a complete day dream, scheme after scheme flying around his head, but none leapt out at him for some reason. Plotting and scheming were usually what Scar did best.

"Scar!"

It was Damu.

"You called?"

The huge lion was walking towards him.

"Yes, Moto has returned. I assume he has much to tell you."

"Indeed," Scar replied, strutting past him in the direction of the main camp. Then, in a whisper this time, "he'd better."

He arrived to find Moto lying on the ground, gnawing on a bone of some sort.

"Well?" he demanded, "what's going on?"

Moto continued to nonchalantly chomp on the bone.

"Very little," he said, between bites, "he was just out with his son, but he caught me. That's why I'm back so-"

He stopped, and just stared at Scar. His face was twisted in confusion, his eyes wide and disbelieving.

"His – his _what?_"

"…his son…?" Moto repeated, "what's the big…?"

Damu had just come up behind Scar.

"What's the matter?" he asked, looking at Scar, "you look like you've seen a spirit or something."

Scar didn't reply. His mind was whirling: this could not be. There was absolutely no way that this was happening…

He gave a roar of fury and leapt on Moto, slamming him into the ground, Scar's jaws inches away from his neck.

"WHICH SON? TELL ME OR I'LL KILL YOU!" he roared down at him.

"SIMBA!" Moto roared back, "NOW GET OFF ME OR I'LL RIP YOUR THROAT OUT!"

Scar got off of him, but began pacing furiously. His plan had failed _again_.

He turned to face Damu, who was looking dangerously back at him.

"You told me that cub was dead, Scar."

"He is dead!" Scar cried, whirling round at Moto, "You're lying to me!"

"I am not," Moto spat, "I saw him with my own two eyes. He even called him Simba. I heard him."

Scar stopped, breathing heavily.

"You're… you're sure?"

"I'm positive."

Someone gave a small laugh. Scar turned around, and saw Damu smiling back at him. The other lions had gathered around the confrontation in a circle, not wanting to miss the fight if there was one.

"And you're laughing because?" Scar demanded.

"No wonder he needs our help," Damu said darkly, "he can't even deal with a defenceless cub."

With that, the entire group of lions began roaring with laughter. Only one, however, remained completely silent. Scar. He felt his face burning, and his blood seemed to boil. With a roar of seething anger, he broke out of the circle and ran into the night, screaming his rage into the sky

**Sorry for the hideously long wait. Can you forgive me with a review?**


	6. Danger All Around

**MOCKS ARE DONE!**

**And first off, may I say how truly SORRY I am for not updating in so long. I just simply have had hardly a moment to spare. But, fear not! I am now hopefully about to fall back into my cycle of weekly updates! **

**DJ: I am heavily inspired by the fanfiction "The Chronicles of the Pridelands" (it's where I've taken "Aiheu" and "Honeytree" from, among other things.) In that story, Shanni was Simba's sister who died soon after she was born, so that's where I got it from. **

Chapter Five: Danger all Around

Rage was not the word to describe how Scar was feeling. Neither was embarrassment, or anger, or fury. An entirely new word would need to be invented to portray his emotions.

Simba was ALIVE? How was that even possible? Scar had sank his teeth into the cub's throat, felt his blood filling his mouth, felt his body go limp in his jaw… there was no way anyone could have survived that. But Simba had. And now, Scar's entire scheme was more complicated than ever. His attempts to kill his brother and his nephew had failed almost six times now, how much more of this could he take?

The lion wandered the desert all night, deep in thought, not wanting to return to the camp until much later. As ever, his mind was filled with ideas and schemes and so much more as to how he could re-establish himself as king. He remembered suddenly that Arianna was still pregnant, with his own cubs. He sat down to contemplate this. Would she be his queen once again, or would the title be bestowed upon another?

"Arianna would be much too young to raise cubs, wouldn't she?" Scar thought aloud to himself, "another lioness would be much more suitable…"

He thought hard. The cubs would simply be removed from Arianna's care, to the next Queen. But who would that be? He thought of all the females in the pride, but none seemed to fit what Scar was looking for. He needed someone young, beautiful, capable of bearing more cubs… but most of them had cubs already.

_What's to say you can't get rid of them?_

That was it.

"Get Mufasa out of the way, kill his brat and cleanse the rest of the cubs! A completely fresh start! A new era! A-"

"Scar?"

Scar jumped out of his skin, and wheeled around, fur bristling and teeth bared.

It was Damu.

"What do you want?" Scar muttered.

"Kuzimu has returned."

"…so?"

Damu growled.

"You know, you really ought to show just a _little _more respect. After all, you're the one who wants _my _help, and there's really nothing to stop me from killing you right now."

The huge lion's eyes were gleaming in the moonlight, and Scar knew that a fight with Damu would not end well for him.

"… go on."

"Well, Kuzimu informs me that there is great celebration in the Pridelands right now. The Queen Sarabi has just given birth to twin cubs."

Scar was so shocked by this news that he snarled, outwardly. More cubs? Really?

"Are you SERIOUS?" Scar screamed. Blinded by anger, he roared into the sky and began pacing furiously. Why was this happening to him? Why did nothing ever go right for Scar? Why could he never get what he wanted?

That was part of the reason for his hatred for Mufasa. He never whined or complained yet still had everything _he _wanted.

"We need to make a move as soon as possible," said Damu.

"What?" Scar replied, "why would we do that? We have no plan! No idea of what we're-"

Once again, Damu cut him off.

"The longer we wait," he said, "the harder it will be to overthrow Mufasa. Your problem is that you want to do everything sneakily."

Scar didn't like it, but he knew Damu was right.

"I say we take them by surprise and force our way in. If I know anything then it's that attack is our only option. They won't even see it coming."

"…you're… you're sure?"

"_Of course _I'm sure," Damu retorted, "you can't even begin to comprehend the number of attacks I've made. It always gets them. Every single time."

Scar hesitated.

"Fine. What do we do?"

The past few days had been extremely bizarre for Simba. For his entire life he had been so used to the undivided attention of his parents, but now, it was no longer the case. Kobe and Shanni seemed to be all they cared about now. The dream he had had all those moons ago seemed to be slowly becoming a reality.

Sarabi was the focus of much attention, as were her new off spring. It seemed like everyone in the entire Pridelands was coming to Priderock to see them, much to Simba's dismay. It meant that he had to go out with the other cubs rather than stay with her, and he was still completely terrified of his surroundings. Open areas were like a nightmare, and he expected Scar or one of the hyenas to leap out at him from anywhere.

The other cubs had noticed his seemingly irrational behaviour, but didn't understand what was wrong with him. Simba couldn't get into any of their games, not even the ones he used to love. He wouldn't ever stop fidgeting, he constantly kept looking over his shoulder and never seemed to be listening to what you said, instead straining his ears for the faintest trace of the sound of danger.

One cub, however, did understand.

"Let's go to that cave beside the watering hole," suggested Tojo, rolling onto his stomach, "we haven't been there in ages."

"Yeah," Tama agreed, "I'm bored. I need to GO somewhere."

The others were all pretty eager to go. Except one.

"Can't we just stay here?" Simba suggested, anxiously, "or maybe we could just-"

"It doesn't matter where we go!" snapped Kula, "anyway you'll just act weird. It's like you think you're going to get attacked or something. Get it into your head, bozo, Scar is GONE!"

Everyone seemed shocked at this sudden outburst. Even Kula herself looked guilty. Simba flinched at the sound of Scar's name.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking down at her paws, "I didn't mean it. I didn't-"

"You guys just go," said Chumvi, "Simba and I'll catch up with you."

So the others went off to the cave, leaving Simba and Chumvi alone.

"Listen, Simba," said Chumvi, delicately, "nothing's going to be there, I promise. It's perfectly fine-"

"I'm not going," said Simba bluntly, "you can't change my mind."

"So, are you saying you're never going to go anywhere in your life ever again? Come _on_, Simba! You're gonna be the king! You need to-"

"And what if I don't want to be king, Chumvi? Huh? Did you ever think about that? What if I'm sick of hearing everyone say that? What if I'm sick of hearing about responsibilities and rules and everything else?"

"Simba, I'm just saying that…"

"Just saying what? Do you have _any_ idea what I've been through? No! Of course you don't! None of you do, and none of you ever will!"

"You're right Simba, I'm sorry."

"Well, you should be!" Simba yelled, "Do you know how it feels to be in the dark, all by yourself, for moons and moons and moons? How it feels to be away from everyone else? You know that I nearly died? Yeah, Chumvi! He tried to kill me! And you know what else? He's coming back for me, I know he is!"

This sudden explosion of emotion left Chumvi quite speechless, until he finally composed himself.

"… I don't know how it feels Simba, but I'm sorry it happened to you. I really am. We all are."

Simba hesitated.

"…I'm sorry that I yelled at you."

"It's fine," Chumvi replied, "what are friends for, anyways?"

Simba smiled, weakly.

"So, are you going to come, or should we just go back to Pride Rock?"

Before the cub could answer, they were both distracted by a snapping sound, coming from the tall grasses nearby.

Simba jumped, and began backing away from the source of the noise, eyes wide and breathing fast. A strange and foul smell began filling his nostrils, similar to the one he had smelled the other day.

"Chumvi?" he said, his voice filled with anxiety, for Chumvi was slowly creeping towards the place the sound had come from.

"Let's go, Chumvi," he repeated, then, with more urgency, "please?"

"Hang on!" Chumvi replied, "I'm just looking!"

He was getting ever closer, merely a few tail lengths from the tall grass. Simba's heart was beating so fast he felt it might explode.

"Stop! Please, STOP!" screamed Simba. He was breathing so fast that he was out of breath, yet standing still.

Chumvi pushed his head into the grass, and Simba could take it no more. He ran towards him, ready to yank him out and drag him back to Pride Rock. There would be no cave adventure now, he was way too scared.

What happened next could only be described as a nightmare.

Simba, panicked out of his mind, collided with Chumvi so hard that the two of them sprawled across the ground.

"Simba!" spluttered Chumvi, what are you…?"

Before he could finish, however, there was an explosive roar that almost deapened the two cubs. In sheer terror, Simba looked up to see a gigantic lion growling down on them, humungous teeth bared and talon-like claws unsheathed. To say he was a giant was an understatement. The lion was absolutely HUGE, even stronger and more powerful looking than Mufasa, who was the biggest lion Simba knew.

At the sight of this, both cubs screamed in terror, before speeding off simultaneously towards Pride rock, hearts racing, heads thumping as they focused on a single goal. Get out of here. Fast.

As they sprinted away, loud thuds on the ground behind them told them that they were being pursued. Terror had consumed them, and they knew that they were running for their lives now.

"NOW YOU SEE WHY I WANTED TO GO?" Screamed Simba over the lion's blood-thirsty roars. If Chumvi had just listened to him in the first place they wouldn't be-

But Simba didn't have time to finish this thought, for he collided heavily with another thing. He rolled over and over before grinding to a halt as he and the foreign object smashed into a rock.

Dazed, he looked up, and saw Nala standing over him.

"Yes!" she cried, "Pinned ya AGAIN!"

"Nala!" yelled Simba, "get off me! He's-!"

Once again, he couldn't finish. The strange lion was hot on their heels once again, and now, Simba noticed, he only had one ear.

Nala was so terrified she couldn't even scream.

"COME ON!" he yelled, and he, Nala and Chumvi sprinted away again.

The other cubs were only a short distance away, beside the water hole. They looked confused as the three of them ran towards them.

"RUN!" screamed Chumvi, but they didn't need telling twice. They all ran as fast as they could in the direction of Pride Rock, not daring to look back

The chase seemed endless, and Simba's lungs seemed ready to burst. His tongue was dry and he gasped for air, not seeming to be able to take it in fast enough. If they could only just find an adult. Someone. ANYONE. His mind was a whirl, but, through it all, the image of a dark lion was flaring, standing out among the chaos in Simba's brain. His ears were full of the sound of a cold, cruel laughter, never ceasing and filling him with fear.

Suddenly, the cub tripped over a large stone on the path he was running along. He went flying across the ground, sprawling everywhere, completely disorientated. He could hear the lion getting closer every second. This was it. Curtains.

There was suddenly a triumphant shriek and an entire chorus of roars. Several bodies leaped over Simba and began to fend off the intruder, snarling and biting and driving him away. The cubs had run right into a group of lionesses, who had been sunning themselves on some rocks. Relief washed over Simba like a wave.

"Simba?"

He looked up, and saw his mother standing a short distance away, her face filled with concern. Kobe and Shanni were standing behind her forelegs, looking inquisitively at him.

"Are you alright?"

"… I'm fine."

"Sweet Aiheu, what on earth happened?"

Simba explained everything to her, as the other lionesses returned. The strange lion was gone.

Sarabi looked worriedly into the distance, in the direction that the rogue had retreated, pulling her cubs slightly closer to her.

"Come, Simba," she said, "let's go back to Pride Rock."

**Once again, I APOLOGISE FOR THE WAIT! But, don't worry, updates will definitely be more often from now on!**

**And by the way, there's recently been a lot of favourites for this story and "Captive" seemingly out of nowhere. Was I mentioned in another story or something?**


	7. Responsibility

**Thanks for all the subscriptions/favourites everyone! It truly means a lot to me.**

***cough* reviews *cough***

**-Niña**

**P.S. Finally got to the Pridelands in Kingdom Hearts 2. Best. Level. EVER!**

Chapter Six: Responsibility

When they got to Pride Rock, Sarabi told Mufasa what had happened, and this caused him great concern. Two rogues had been sighted in the Pride Lands within days of each other, and now the cubs were being targeted. He decided there and then to patrol and mark the border more frequently.

As he settled down to sleep that night, licking Sarabi on the ear and nuzzling the cubs in-between them as he did so, he couldn't shake the feeling that the two rogues were somehow connected to each other, and that they in turn were connected to Scar. After all, his brother had said "this isn't over". What if this was a new plan coming into action?

Try as he might, he couldn't shake this feeling, and stayed awake for much of the night, deep in thought. What if they were planning an attack? Protecting his family would be the main priority, of course, but he still had to consider the rest of the pride, and the Kingdom. He knew too well what could happen under Scar's reign, and was determined for it not to repeat itself.

As the first beams of sunlight began to appear through the den entrance, he felt one of the cubs stir beside him, and he looked down at them all, proudly. Kobe and Shanni were both golden, with Shanni being slightly darker. When they were awake, they both had big, round amber eyes that took in the world around them. They were only a few days old, but still so curious about everything they had encountered in their short lives.

He then looked at Simba, who was directly beside him. It had been just over a week since he had become free, and his body was still covered in scores and scratches, each a signpost of Scar's anger and hatred. He would not let his brother back at him, whatever the cost. He had promised him, after all, and Mufasa _never _broke a promise. Not to anyone.

Remembering his decision from the previous night, he got up and left the den, quietly so as not to wake anyone else up. He squinted his eyes in the sunlight as he emerged, and stopped to take in the landscape before him. The green and yellow colours of the savannah were returning, as were the Pridelands' other inhabitants. The bones left by the hyenas were slowly being cleared away by various other predators chomping on them, and the before-dry riverbed was now overflowing with water. Smiling to himself, Mufasa set off.

Far away, in the outlands, Scar and Damu were headed towards the main camp, a plan fully formed between them as to how to regain control of the pridelands. As far as Scar was concerned, the plan was fool proof. There was no way Mufasa or the rest of the pride or anyone else for that matter would be able to stand against them. It seemed that soon, all of Scar's troubles would be over, and he'd be back on top, once and for all.

"Now, you must make sure that Mufasa sees his cubs die," Scar insisted, "think of it as revenge for everything he's ever done to me. So you can't kill him until after. And-"

Scar sounded like an over-excited schoolchild, and it was causing Damu a great deal of annoyance.

"Will you _shut up_," he said, exasperatedly, "honestly, sometimes you can be so irritating."

Scar promptly shut up.

Upon entering the main camp, Damu gave a roar, signalling for the others to congregate. He leapt up onto a boulder at the centre and watched them all gather around.

"Lions!" he called out, "the time has come!"

"Come for what?" someone shouted from the crowd.

Damu sighed.

"The time for us to finally take over the Pridelands!"

There was excited murmuring among the rogues. Finally, they could maybe capture some of their own territory.

"Our plan is this," continued Damu, "we simply force our way in, and that's it. From what Scar has told me, the majourity of the Pride is females and cubs. There's only one adult male. This will be easy, even by our standards."

This sounded like an exciting prospect.

"Wait a minute!" came a call from the crowd.

Everyone quickly looked around.

It was Hasira, the lion with only one ear.

"What's in it for us?"

"Ah, Hasira," said Damu, smoothly, "you're back, but, how many times must you be told? The pride is full of defenceless lionesses. You can help yourself to them."

"And what about cubs?"

"Oh come now, Hasira! Are you telling me you would have difficulty taking out some little cubs?"

"Well, _he_ seems to have had trouble."

Scar felt his face burning, and he glowered back at Hasira.

"That cub was an exceptional circumstance… I've- I've killed lots of things, like-"

"A mouse?"

Scar did not reply. He remembered the mouse that had escaped him all those moons ago because of Zazu.

Hasira laughed back at him.

"And "exceptional circumstance"? HA! I saw that cub when I was in the Pridelands, all the little flea did was run away from me. I would have killed him too if it weren't for the lionesses."

"Wait," interrupted Damu, "you were seen?"

"Well, yeah."

Damu growled.

"Fool! This leaves us only one choice, time is running out."

"Which is?" asked Scar.

"We leave at next sunset."

Simba awoke to find his father gone, but his mother and siblings were still beside him. They were all awake.

"Good morning, honeytree," said Sarabi, "did you sleep well?"

Simba thought. He hadn't had any nightmares, so that was a plus.

"um… ok," he muttered. He was still shaken from the rogue attack the previous day.

Sarabi sighed. She was trying her hardest to get through to her cub, but it wasn't working. He seemed distant, afraid of everything… she didn't know what to do.

"Well, I've got to go hunting with the other lionesses later on, so you'll have to watch over Kobe and Shanni for me."

Simba's heart sank.

"But _Mom!_" Simba whined. He really didn't want to be stuck with his younger siblings. Though, really, what would he be doing anyway?

"No buts, Simba," Sarabi said, sharply, "just do as you're told."

Later that day, when most of the lionesses left to hunt, Arianna and another lioness named Reeva stayed behind to make sure the cubs were okay. Simba had been reminded countless times by his mother as to what he was supposed to do. Each time his reply would be a strained sounding "I know", signalling to her that he'd much rather be doing something else. It wasn't _fair_. None of the others had been forced to do this.

He looked over at Nala, and then remembered that it was her job to look out for Mheetu when their mother wasn't around.

"Hey Nala!" he called, trotting over to her, completely forgetting about Kobe and Shanni.

"Hey Simba," she called back.

"I have to ask you something," Simba said, "you know how you're always looking after Mheetu and stuff?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, what do you do? My mom told me I have to look after Kobe and Shanni and I don't know what to do."

"Well," began Nala, "it's easy! Just act like they do and make up a game for them."

"But how?"

Nala sighed.

"Look, let them play with Mheetu and we can look after them together."

"Okay," said Simba. This sounded like a good plan.

"Well, where are they?"

"They're-" Simba turned around, and his heart sank. Where Kobe and Shanni had previously been standing beside a rock, they were now gone.

"Simba!" cried Nala, "I don't see them! What did you do with them?"

"I came over to talk to you and-"

"You mean you left them by themselves?" asked Nala, looking absolutely horrified, "You can't take your eyes off cubs that young! Not even for a second!"

She darted over to the spot where they used to be.

"We have to find them! Come on, Mheetu!"

Simba nodded, and quickly followed her.

"Honestly, Simba!" Nala continued, "_Anything _could have happened to them by now."

"You think I don't know that?" Simba cried, exasperated.

By this point, the three of them were in the long grass, which came up over their heads.

"I can't see anything," Simba said, "and I can't smell them either!" He was beginning to panic.

"Right," said Nala, "you look over there," she motioned to the left of them, "and Mheetu and I'll look over here," she motioned to their right.

"Fine," said Simba, hoping to find them before his mother returned from the hunt. There was no telling the trouble he'd be in then.

"and look everywhere!" Nala called over her shoulder, "you wouldn't believe the tight spaces that cubs get into!"

With that, she and Mheetu hurried off in the other direction. Sighing, Simba took off.

He did everything Nala had told him to. He looked behind rocks, inbetween rocks, under rocks, but he didn't find them. He was getting further and further away from the others. They couldn't have wandered off this far could they? Still, he kept searching, his worry increasing with every second. His parents would _kill_ him when they found out what he had done, and what would the others think of him then?

Then, another terrifying thought hit him. What if something had got them? A vulture, a jackal… a hyena… Scar?

He began to shake just thinking about him. He turned this way and that, trying to see if he was around. He needed to find his brother and sister. Fast.

He began to run all over, looking absolutely everywhere for them, but still no luck. He was overflowing with fear and panic now. Something definitely had them.

"Kobe?" he called, "Shanni?"

No reply. Not a sign or hint of them being anywhere.

"Oh Gods," Simba whispered, "oh no!"

He ran again, turning his head every which way trying to catch a glimpse of either of them. It didn't help that their pelts were the same colour as their surroundings. He was completely disorientated now. The grass was so high above his head that he couldn't see Nala or Mheetu or the group of the other lions beneath the acacia trees.

Suddenly, as he was running along, looking everywhere, he collided heavily with something. The force with which he hit it sent him flying backwards, and he hit the ground with a thud.

And then he heard two tiny giggles.

Looking up, he saw his father standing before him, with Kobe and Shanni crouched between his forepaws, laughing tiny cub laughs at the sight of him.

"Simba?"

The cub hesitated.

"We were… we were playing hide and seek."

"Oh, really?" Mufasa looked into the distance, "so far away from the others?"

He looked sceptically down at his son.

Simba sighed.

"I took my eye off them… I'm sorry, I… I just got distracted."

He hung his head.

Mufasa let his features soften.

"It's okay, they're safe, at least."

Simba looked up hopefully.

"But, you need to get a sense of responsibility," he continued, "if you're going to be king, that's very important."

Simba looked up at his father. He looked almost weary, and, unbeknownst to Mufasa, that was something he was sick of hearing.

"Come on, let's go back to the others."

With Mufasa's much higher vantage point, getting back to the other lions was much easier. Simba trailed along behind him, head drooped down to the ground, while Kobe and Shanni darted all over the place, occasionally tripping on their clumsy cub paws. Simba knew at least his father wouldn't lose them like he had. Mufasa was responsible, unlike he was. When they finally reached the others, a frantic Sarabi dashed over to them.

"Thank the gods!" she cried, "there you are!"

She nuzzled Kobe and Shanni close to her, relieved that they were okay. Then her vision snapped to Simba.

"What happened?"

Simba opened his mouth, ready to explain everything, but Mufasa cut him off.

"They just got carried away during hide and seek, Sarabi, nothing more."

Simba looked up at his father, bewildered. Had he really just lied?

"Well, at least you're safe. That's what matters."

Sarafina appeared at Sarabi' side. To Simba's relief, Nala and Mheetu were with her.

"The kill is ready, we can eat it now."

Sarabi went with her to the carcass, Shanni and Kobe following her.

"Why did you lie?" Simba asked quietly, "why didn't you say I lost them?"

"Because Simba," began Mufasa, "sometimes it's better not to tell the truth if it will hurt someone. Your mother is stressed enough as it is. I don't want to worry her any more."

Simba nodded to show he understood.

"But, that doesn't mean you should let that happen again. Do you understand?"

He nodded again.

"Good, let's go."

In the outlands, the rogues were preparing to leave. The sun had just started a slow descent towards the mountains, where it would eventually fall out of sight. The plan was simple: arrive in the dead of night and force their way in. There was nothing else to it.

"Scar."

Scar, who was also gearing up for the attack, turned around.

"This is Zira," said Damu.

Beside Damu, stood a lioness, and she was one of the most entrancing Scar had seen in his life. Although her rogue lifestyle had left her scarred, and battered looking, she still had very elegant features, and a black stripe ran down the centre of her forehead all the way back to her tail.

"Why, hello Zira," purred Scar, "I don't believe we've met…"

"You can lay off the smooth-talk," said Zira, abruptly, "I don't do anything for anyone. Especially not _mating_."

Wow. She had seen right through him.

"Believe me," said Damu, "you're not the first lion to try that."

Scar closed his mouth, embarrassed. He had just hoped that Zira may be the one to be his queen. He would have to try again later on.

"I've just told Zira the plan," said Damu, "luckily for you, she approves. I don't do anything unless Zira agrees to it."

He tried to nuzzle up to her, but she shoved him away, roaring indignantly.

"Do that again, and I'll make you regret it," she said, threateningly, unsheathing her claws.

"Sorry… honeytree."

She batted him with her paw, before storming off among the other lions.

"Someday," said Damu, distantly, "she'll be my mate, make no mistake."

Scar was surprised. Damu wanted Zira as a mate too? No! She would be _Scar's_ mate. For once he would get what he wanted. This brief introduction to Zira had just proved to Scar how much he wanted her. The short confrontation had set Scar's fur on end with desire. Besides, the way Damu had tried to show affection was creepy, and Zira had objected to Scar's advances far less.

She would be his.

"Well then," continued Damu, "are you ready?"

Scar waited a few moments before answering.

"More than ever."

"Fine then. Let's go."

**Oooooohhh! The tension is building! I wonder what will happen next?**


	8. It Starts

**Here Comes The ACTION!**

**Yes! I daresay we should have a party!**

**This story is now about 12,000 words long. Captive is around 30,000 words long. **

**So I have spent nearly half of the length of Captive introducing the plot of this one. FEAR NOT! The main plot/point of the story is about to begin! This is a lot like the infuriating first six hours of Kingdom Hearts 2 where you have to play as Roxas in Twilight town (that was just damn ANNOYING! And it took me 15 hours) **

**But, enough blethering. LET'S GO!**

**P.S. And don't worry Scar fans, sure, he's acting like a total stupid/pathetic/idiotic wimp right now, but once he's back on home soil I'm sure he'll be back to his former self. Like I was telling _readsmanyfavsfew, _I was trying to express that Scar is out of his comfort zone with the outlanders, but he still needs them if he wants to succeed. Sorry, I'll stop ranting now **

Chapter Seven: It Starts

As the pride walked back to Pride Rock, the rain began to fall. The sun was nearing the end of its descent behind the mountain, meaning the sky was shot with pink and orange. As the first stars began to appear, the sound of late evening birdsong and running water in the river filled the air. It was absolutely beautiful to behold.

Mufasa, however, wasn't paying attention to it. In between making sure Kobe and Shanni hadn't wandered off or some kind of threat hadn't presented itself, he cast a look at Simba, who was still trailing behind the rest of the group, head down, tail down, ears drooped. He was confused; he had thought things could only get better when Scar had left, but Simba just seemed to be getting worse. He had no idea what he could do. Talking hadn't helped, giving him responsibilities hadn't helped… would he ever be back to normal? And, maybe most importantly, would he ever be able to be king?

As he thought this, Kobe darted past him in hot pursuit of a butterfly seeking shelter from the rain. His unyielding energy and the mischievous sparkle in his tiny eyes reminded Mufasa of how Simba used to be. He thought again, would Kobe perhaps be more fit to rule than Simba?

_No! _Argued one side of Mufasa's brain, _you've been drumming the whole idea of being King into Simba's head for his entire life! It wouldn't be fair to take that away now._

_Have you seen him though? _Retorted the other side, _he can't be king! He's weak, distant, afraid of everything! How could he ever rule a kingdom?_

As the voices kept arguing with each other, they eventually just mixed together into a horrible dirge. Mufasa shook his head to try and clear it; he didn't want to think about it now. It had been troubling him for a while.

When they reached Pride Rock, night had fallen properly, the sky being an inky black colour scattered with thousands of shimmering white stars. The lions at the head of the group went into the den, ready for the good night's sleep that lay ahead of them. When Mufasa got to the entrance, he stopped.

"Is everything OK?" asked Sarabi, standing beside him.

"…yes," Mufasa replied. He turned to look at Simba, who was still adopting the same pose as he had previously.

"Simba," he said, "come with me."

The cub looked up at him, before his head fell again. He followed him to the end of the promontory as the rest of the Pride filed into the cave.

As they had done may a time before, the two sat together, looking up at the sky. Mufasa waited a few moments before saying anything.

"You know, Simba," he began, "you shouldn't be too hard on yourself about what happened today. It was an accident."

Simba looked up.

"Yeah, but Kings don't have accidents, do they?"

"Of course they do," Mufasa replied, "everyone does at one point or another."

"You don't."

"Believe me Simba, I've made many mistakes in my life."

Simba looked up properly; his face looked almost full of hope.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Like when?"

He was paying complete attention now, his eyes wide with wonder.

"Oh, there's far too many for me to remember properly."

This seemed to make Simba a whole lot happier. He looked like he may almost smile.

"So," Mufasa began, approaching the next subject with caution, "you still want to be king, don't you?"

"More than anything," Simba sighed, his head drooping again, "thought I don't know if… if I can do it."

Mufasa didn't know either, but of course he didn't say it.

"If you were going to, we'd have to start lessons again. We're a bit… behind."

"Why not make Kobe king and save yourself the trouble?"

"Why would I do that?" asked Mufasa. Maybe hearing Simba's view on the matter would be helpful.

"Because he's not messed up like I am."

_Well that didn't help, _Mufasa thought.

"Simba, you are _not _messed up."

"Yes I am, Dad!" cried Simba, "look at me!"

"I am, you look fine!" Mufasa lied.

"No I don't! How many lions do you know that fainted when they saw a dark hole? Or can't do anything by themselves? I feel like such a _baby!_"

"It's not your fault, Simba. You didn't do this!"

He looked at him, still covered in scratches and half healed wounds.

"It's not your fault…" he whispered

"…that doesn't make it untrue though, does it?"

Simba had resumed his drooping posture. Mufasa sighed with frustration.

"Come on," he said, "let's get some sleep." 

_I'm coming…_

"No!"

_I'm coming… can't you see me?_

"Please… please, just leave me alone!"

_I can see you…_

"I can't!"

_I'm here…_

Simba's eyes flew open, though for once he wasn't screaming, so nobody else woke up. He was sick of all these nightmares. They would go away for a day and then come back, stronger than ever, sometimes two or three in one night, horrifyingly vivid. He was certain that no one else had nightmares like these, he felt like such a baby. He glanced at Kobe and Shanni, who were nestled together beside him against Sarabi's flank. They were surely dreaming peaceful cub dreams, a peace that Simba yearned to return to. Trying to push all his troubles out of his mind, he put his head down and tried to go back to sleep.

The next thing he knew, he was in complete darkness. A swishing noise told him that something around him was moving. He turned this way and that trying to see what it was but the blackness made it impossible. Then, his ears were filled with a shrill laughing, mixed with screams and the sound of a crying infant…

Once again, he awoke abruptly, though again he didn't cry out.

Then, in the distance, he heard the unmistakeable sound of a roar. A lion's roar. Who could that be?

At the sound of this, Sarabi's head flew up from the ground. She pricked her ears for a second, then the roar sounded again.

"Mufasa," she whispered, "_Mufasa_!"

His father grunted, before raising his own head as well.

"What?"

"I heard a noise!"

Mufasa, who was still very drowsy, could still only reply with, "what?"

"A noise! I heard roaring, listen!"

They both did listen, and the roar returned, though much louder than it had been before, and it sounded like there were many.

"Rogues?" Mufasa thought out loud.

Sarabi's eyes widened with fear, and she looked at the cubs (Simba pretended to be still asleep).

"They'll take the cubs!" she whimpered.

"Never."

"But, honeytree, they will!" she cried, her eyes filling with tears, "you know they will!"

Mufasa stood up, and began to stalk towards the cave entrance, muscles tensed and teeth bared.

"Be careful!" Sarabi breathed behind him.

He had a very bad feeling about what was going to happen. The entire pride had been woken up by the sound, and an anxious murmuring echoed around the walls of the den.

As Mufasa reached the den entrance, a rancid stench filled his nostrils hit the roof of his mouth. He shook his head to try and clear it, giving a slight snarl as he did so.

_There's no time for this! _He thought _You need to get them away from the Pride!_

He glanced back at Sarabi, who was still sobbing, while she drew her cubs nearer to her, desperate to protect them from whatever was coming. Defending them would be his number one priority.

He stepped halfway out of the cave and looked around. He couldn't see anything suspicious or threatening. Only the rain lashing agains the ground. Had they all imagined the noises? He emerged fully, sniffing the air, and retched as the awful smell returned. He turned his head this way and that, trying to see something – anything.

"Who's there?" he called "show yourself!"

And then it happened.

There was an enormous clap of thunder, when something heavy slammed into him from behind, sending him flying and knocking the wind out of him, all while he was being deafened by an explosive roar. Shaking the dust out of his eyes he could see a huge male lion bearing down on him, his eyes redder than blood and his mane and fur jet black. It was the lion he had seen the other day with Simba!

He roared up at him, and, summoning all the strength he had, threw him off. Mufasa leapt to his feet, steadied himself, and bounded into the den.

As he looked around, all he could see was chaos. There were strange lions _everywhere_. Not a single part of the den was free from them, and lionesses all over the place were trying to fight them away. Another rogue barrelled past him, knocking him sideways, though Mufasa could still hear him call out to a comrade.

"Scar said to get all the cubs!"

_Scar. Cubs. _Sweet Aiheu, no!

He began to frantically look for his family, all the while fighting off rogue after rogue. Some were easy to bat away, while others were more difficult and larger. Oh gods, where were they?

A squeal sounded across the den, causing Mufasa to whirl around. A rogue with no tail had a cub in his mouth, and was carrying it to the centre of the den. A lioness was lying on the ground not far away, with blood seeping out of her side. He began to run towards her to help her, but skidded to a halt, his eyes wide in fear at something he had just seen nearby.

Sarabi, teeth bared and fur on end, was backed against the wall, Simba, Kobe and Shanni all crouched beneath her. A rogue was right in front of them, surely seconds from attacking. Throwing caution to the wind, he ran at the stranger, knocking him away. He managed to get in a few bites and scratches before the rogue ran off to another part of the den.

He looked into his mate's eyes, and saw that they were wide and filled with fear, reflecting his own.

"What's going on?" she breathed, barely able to control her franticness.

"It's Scar," Mufasa said, quickly. A tiny gasp from below let him know that Simba had heard him.

Sarabi's eyes only widened further.

"No!" she cried, "No! What will we do?"

Mufasa looked down at his son. His tiny body was quivering with absolute terror, he looked completely petrified.

"Simba," he said, "follow me. Now."

Sarabi looked at him.

"What- what are you doing?"

"Just stay with the cubs," Mufasa replied, hurriedly, "everything's going to be fine!"

"But-"

"_Trust me, _Sarabi!"

She dipped her head, and Mufasa quickly led Simba away behind some fallen rocks at the rear of the den.

Turning to his son, Mufasa could see tears streaming down his face. The situation was becoming more and more desperate every second.

"Simba, everything's going to be fine! I promise-"

"I won't go back in the dark!" the cub cried, "I can't!"

"Listen to me, Simba, listen!"

"He's coming, Dad! He's coming for me!"

Simba just cried harder. Each tiny sob seemed to beat against Mufasa's heart. It was more than he could bear. He crouched down so that his face was level with Simba's.

"I don't know how many times I'm going to tell you this," he bagan, gently "but I'm not letting anyone near you. I promised you that I wouldn't, and I'll _never_ break that promise. You understand?"

The cub nodded, and his sobs subsided slightly.

"Go to Rafiki's tree," Mufasa said, "tell him what's happening, and don't move from there. I'll come for you when this is all over."

"But Dad, I-"

"_Go, _Simba."

He looked around, and discovered a hole in the cave wall where the rocks had crumbled away. It was very small, but maybe…?

"Go out that way, and run. Don't look back, whatever you do."

Simba looked terrified, but, nodding silently, slipped out of the gap in the wall.


	9. Nowhere to Run

Chapter Eight: No Where to Run

Simba emerged from the hole, and tumbled down the side of the rock, landing in a muddy puddle at the bottom. The rain was still falling heavily from the sky, and now thunder and lightning were rumbling and flashing at regular intervals. The ominous sound and giant storm clouds did nothing to relax Simba at all. He was alone, and terrified. Scar was coming.

Standing up on shaky legs, he shook his head to try and clear away the terrifying images that were swirling round and round his mind. It only made them clearer, causing him to cry out in sheer panic.

"Stop!" he screamed, "STOP!"

No use. All he could see were the dark images of strange lions all around him, and they slowly parted to reveal…

He screwed his eyes shut to try and block it out, but this only made the images even more vivid than before. Scar was right in front of him, sneering, unsheathing his claws, raising them into the air…

_Get to Rafiki's tree! _Simba thought, _Now!_

With that, he began to run. He could barely remember where Rafiki's tree was, and the thunder and lightning were just disorientating him even more. He had never been out at night by himself. His parents had only ever emphasised how dangerous it was to him. There were jackals, crocodiles, hyenas… though, were they still there? He knew the hyenas had left when Scar had, but where had they gone? This thought just unsettled him even more. Soaking, terrified, and gasping for breath, he bravely pushed on.

Mufasa watched as his son slipped through the hole and disappeared. He was safe for now, at least. Pausing for only a second more, he whirled around and prepared to leap into the fray once more to find Sarabi. The rest of his family needed protection, and there was no telling what Scar might do when he found them. He leaped out from behind the boulder, teeth bared and claws unsheathed, ready for anything that came at him. Rapidly scanning the cave, he spotted Sarabi on the far side, and began to run towards her. The rogues had now collected a large group of cubs together, and were holding them near the centre of the den. They seemed unharmed, for now, so Mufasa continued across the den.

He was so close; Sarabi looked up and saw him, her relief evident through her facial expression. But, it was gone as quickly as it had come. Now she looked panicked, eyes wide.

"MUFASA!" she screamed.

Mufasa turned his head just in time for a rogue to smash into him. The impact sent him sprawling across the floor, and he hit the opposite wall. He lay dazed for a few seconds.

_Get up! Get up now!_

He stumbled to his feet, and spun around to face his attacker. He had to suppress a gasp when he saw who it was.

"_Damu!"_

"Why, hello there, Mufasa," the oppressor crooned, "long time no see."

"For good reason," Mufasa spat back, "why are you here?"

"Oh, no reason… just as a favour to a friend of mine…"

Leaving no time for Mufasa to react, Damu leapt at him, sinking his teeth into his shoulder. Mufasa roared with pain as he slowly collapsed under the crushing weight. He had forgotten how hard it had been last time… _no! Don't think about that! Just get him off!... _though it was no use. He was too big, too heavy, too strong. As he lay, spread-eagled on the floor, he could only watch helplessly as the females were driven to the opposite side of the den. One was now completely isolated on the near side.

"Sarabi!"

He dug his claws into the rock and tried to pull himself out of Damu's grasp, but to no avail. His razor teeth were now locked into the back of Mufasa's neck, practically paralyzing him.

And then, there was a huge clap of thunder, a flash of lightning, and a shadow appeared across the den entrance. It was instantly recognisable to all…

Scar strode into the den, a huge, ominous sneer etched across his face, eyes alight with malice. Everything had gone exactly to plan.

"Lions!" he called, "I have returned!"

Nobody said a thing. The only sound to be heard was rapid, panicked, heavy breathing.

Sarabi gave a small squeal when she saw him. He had seen her too. His green orb-like eyes locked onto her, as she crouched lower to try and conceal the cubs cowering beneath her. She remained steadfast through it all, determined to protect the last thing that she held dear, even as Scar began to approach. Mufasa tried to struggle harder, but the vice like grip Damu had on him meant he was practically locked into place, powerless to do anything. Scar stopped right in front of Sarabi, sneering right in her face. She held her gaze at him, staring straight into his eyes, unwavering, unfaltering, though she was absolutely petrified.

"Please Scar!" she suddenly cried, "they've done no wrong!"

"Well," he replied, smoothly, "I never thought it would ever be _you_ begging _me_."

"please… I'll do anything. ANYTHING!"

"Stand aside, Sarabi," Scar crooned, only a hint of danger creeping into his voice, his eyes narrow. Sarabi did not move or say a word. She merely continued to stare at him, eyes wide. Mufasa's heart was pounding so fast he felt it might burst. Every beat seemed to make his entire body rumble. Sweet Aiheu, please don't let anything bad happen! As Scar turned away from her, he let himself relax slightly.

Then, without warning, Scar wheeled around struck Sarabi across the face. The force of the blow knocked her sideways, and she slid across the floor. Several more males closed in around her, preventing her from returning to her cubs.

Mufasa cried out, "NO!" and began to struggle harder than ever, his claws scraping across the rock and leaving score marks, but it was a hopeless struggle. Kobe and Shanni were now completely alone in the middle of the den, Sarabi being pinned to the floor by several rogues, sobbing hysterically.

Scar stared with revulsion at the little creatures before him. Both looked almost exactly like small versions of their father: golden brown with amber eyes, all four of which were staring up at him. He sneered downwards, before turning to face his brother.

"New meat, eh, Mufasa?"

"_Don't… you … dare… hurt… them_!" Mufasa growled back, with difficulty, for Damu was now bearing his entire body weight down on him. It was all he could do to prevent Mufasa from moving, who was now using every ounce of strength he possessed to try and get up.

"Oh, no, Mufasa, I would never hurt them!"

Mufasa paused.

"You – you wouldn't?"

"No, of course not," Scar said, almost shrilly, "I'm just going to kill them instead."

He didn't even try to suppress his laugh at Sarabi's scream from behind him, or at the panicked expression that was all over his brother's face. Chuckling once more, he began to circle the cubs before him. They stumbled about, confused, tripping over their own feet. Where was their mother? Who was this strange, scary lion? With that, one of them began to cry, it's wailing echoing around the walls of the den, only putting Mufasa more on edge and causing Sarabi even more anguish. Scar batted at them with his paws, flipping them over, snapping at them, doing his utmost to savour his oncoming revenge.

"Not to worry," Scar said quietly, "your big brother can go first!"

Scar swept over to the group of cubs assembled at the centre of the den. They all shrank back, whimpering with fear as Scar's piercing eyes passed over them. He furrowed his brow, confused.

"_Oh, Simba!"_ Scar sang, "_Simba, where are you?"_

He cast his gaze all over the den, but Simba did not appear.

"Not here, eh?" he wondered aloud. Once again, the room remained silent.

"Not to worry, Kuzimu!"

A lion with a severed tail emerged from the crowd of lions on the other side of the den.

"Scar?"

"Go out and find our little friend, won't you? Bring him back here, it's been too long since we've seen eachother."

Kuzimu dipped his head, and left the den, taking off into the pouring rain. Scar watched him go, before turning around and addressing the pride.

"Things will definitely be changing around here," he called, making sure everyone could hear him, "tonight, we begin afresh, meaning new cubs, a new leader, and a new regime. Do as we say and you'll remain unharmed."

Panic reinstated itself. New cubs? New leader? Had Scar actually lost all feeling that he would proceed to slaughter all the cubs before him.

"Once Mufasa's brood are safely done away with, the others will follow the same way."

"_Like hell_," Mufasa seethed, all but suffocated underneath Damu.

"Don't think I've forgotten you, brother," Scar said, turning to face him, "I have something special lined up for you, _believe me_."

Mufasa just stared back at him, hatred and anger and fear filling him.

* * *

><p>Simba collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air, soaked to the skin. He seemed to have been running for hours, when in reality it had been much shorter. Surely Rafiki's tree should be close by now? Squinting to see through the falling rain he finally spotted it. Thank the Gods, it was only a short distance away! Quickly getting to his feet, but slipping slightly in the mud, he began to bound towards the tree, desperate to get out of the rain.<p>

"Going somewhere?"

Jumping out of his skin, Simba whipped around, and cried out instantly. A humongous male lion was behind him, sneering broadly down at him. He was transfixed with terror, unable to speak or scream or do anything.

The rogue lunged for him, but, with a squeal of sheer terror, Simba ran, faster than he felt he had ever run in his life. Sweet Aiheu, oh Gods, don't let him hurt me!

Of course, the adult lion ran faster than Simba's little cub legs ever could. With one swift swipe of his paw, Simba was knocked sideways, and sprawled across the ground. He lay, dazed, seeing stars and countless other strange and terrifying apparitions. Then, before he could do anything, he felt whit hot pain in his back leg as some razor teeth sank into his flesh. He was lifted high off the ground, and swung, upside down, in mid air.

"Put me down!" he cried, "PUT ME DOWN! LET ME GO, PLEASE!"

The rogue shook him, hard, before bounding back the way he had come. Hot salty tears began to flow up Simba's face. He knew what he would be returning to.

The trip back to Pride Rock was all too familiar for Simba. He had made this trip six moons ago, although the right way up. The emotions he felt now were the same, if not worse, than they had been before. He didn't know if he would be alive much longer, and he was swinging around so much that he felt sick, and his head was heavy and full of blood that had rushed into it. When he finally saw the grey stone of pride rock below him, he only cried harder. By the time they entered the den he was trembling from head to foot. He heard his mother's voice cry out.

"SIMBA!"

He was then tossed onto the floor, hitting his head hard and landing on his side. As his vision blurred, he could just about make out the images of Koba and Shanni cowering nearby.

"Oh, Simba," an all-too-familiar voice said, "there you are."

An icy chill had come over Simba's body. Dear God, no!

He slowly looked around, and there he was. Scar. The source of every dream and night mare and terrifying image, of six moons worth of pain and suffering, six moons of terror.

"Though, I must say, I'm a little surprised to se you," he stepped closer, and his eyes darkened, "_alive._"

The cub's breathing began to speed up, faster and faster until it felt like he might suffocate. He turned as if to run, but there was no where for him to go. He was completely alone in the centre of the den.

"Don't worry," said Scar, unsheathing his claws, "I'll try and make this as quick as possible…"

Simba crouched, low to the ground. His time was definitely up now.

Mufasa, pinned to the floor by the side of the den, could only watch in utmost horror as the scene played out before him. Simba looked terrified, tears streaming down his face, whimpering, staring up at the lion before him. The tiny eyes quickly glanced over at Mufasa. _You promised you wouldn't let anything happen to me…_

In that split second, in that tiny glance, Mufasa saw betrayal. He had promised. _He had promised… he never broke his promises…_

"_Say goodnight, Simba_," Scar sneered, raising his paw high into the air. Simba, on the ground, screwed his eyes shut, and turned his head away, preparing for the blow. And, in that tiny window of opportunity, Mufasa scraped together every last gram of strength within him. With an almighty roar, he surged upwards, throwing Damu off and away. He leapt towards his son, protectively enveloping him in his forepaws and sending the two of them skidding away from Scar across the den floor, though Mufasa winced as the blow meant for Simba tore into his shoulder. He leapt up, and seeing that they had landed near Kobe and Shanni, stood protectively over all three of them, baring his teeth.

"Touch any of my cubs and I will _kill_ you," he breathed.

Looking around, he saw rogues beginning to advance on them from all angles. He was ready for them, unsheathing his claws and tensing his muscles.

"Wait," Scar said, raising a paw to hold them back, "this can be hard or easy, Mufasa."

Mufasa simply growled back, not moving.

"Either give those cubs to me… or face the consequences later."

"_Over my dead body, Scar!"_

Scar raised one eyebrow.

"Fine, have it your way."

He turned to the other rogues.

"Settle in, boys, we're here to stay."


	10. The King has returned

**Oh my Gosh! Could it be?**

**YES!**

**Em, well, I'm back, and raring to go.**

"**Wait a minute." I hear you say, "Wasn't this story supposed to be "returning July 2012"?"**

**Well, today is the last day of July, but here are my excuses:**

** in France without a computer or internet connection for two weeks.**

** involved in various "woop-de-doo the exams are over" get togethers.**

** USB stick broke (so I lost my almost complete chapter)**

** finally, possibly the biggest set back of all, MY SISTER HAS BEEN HOGGING THE COMPUTER ALL SUMMER. I can only write fanfiction if I'm alone. If there's even a possibility of someone reading over my shoulder I just can't do it. Even if I did manage to get the computer, she'd be watching the TV (which is in the same room) so I still couldn't do it. Luckily for you, I've found a pocket of solitude during which to re write this chapter.**

**!IN OTHER NEWS! "Captive" (which is less than a month shy of its first "birthday") was stolen and posted onto Fanpop! The perpetrator had copied and pasted the story, removed all my author's notes, changed the chapter titles and had deftly entitled the story "If Muffassa servived the stampeed". Naturally, I was livid, especially when I saw the comments that various people had left and then at the plagiarists responses. Where several people had written "OMGZZ ur soo creativ", the eejit had responded "thanks. I'm writin da nxt chappie nowww". Of course, that was a load of BS, so I confronted them with an extremely angry private message, demanding that they remove the story and admit they were a bare faced liar. Luckily for me, they obliged (well, apart from the whole "admitting they were a liar" thing), but the excuse they gave was pathetic. They claimed that they "didn't know it was my story" and that their "friend showed it to them". HELLO? If you take a story off a website called FANFICTION DOT NET and copy and paste the whole thing, pass it off as your own and accept compliments like you're the next Christ of course whoever worked hard on it is going to come at you and be angry. Whatever, in the words of Rafiki "it doesn't matter! It's in de past!"**

"**Yeah, but it still hurts!"**

…**Never mind.**

Chapter Nine: The "King" has returned

The den was gripped by a petrifying silence. As before, only the sound of heavy breathing was audible, and not a soul dared to speak. Scar continued to project his icy stare at his brother with a gaze so dangerous that Mufasa felt a twang of fear to see it. Oh, how he longed to attack him, to finally seek revenge for all the pain and hurt and suffering he had caused, to finally make up for the chance he had previously let slip by him, to avenge Ni, to avenge Arianna's dead cubs, Simba's old demeanour…

He couldn't. Not only was he hopelessly outnumbered, but the cubs would be left wide open and unprotected. The three of them were still pressed up against the rear of his forelegs, and he could feel them, trembling violently, all while the terrible wailing of either Kobe or Shanni continued to echo around the walls. Sarabi was lost from sight behind a horde of rogues, and though he longed to cry out to her, he dared not to.

Scar took a step forward, causing the three frightened cubs to flinch backwards, and Mufasa's hackles to rise ever further.

"Are you sure," Scar hissed, in such a low tone it was barely audible, "that you don't want to reconsider that?"

Mufasa stared defiantly back at him, and said nothing, instead letting a low growl rumble in his throat, his way of showing that it wasn't even an option. Despite his aggressive demeanour, a mixture of hatred and overwhelming fear churned around him as he tried to think of a way out of this ever-more desperate situation.

Scar leapt onto a lowish rock that had fallen near the centre of the den.

"Let the pride be my witness," he cried out, "I henceforth name myself ruler of Pride rock and the Pride Lands."

A hushed murmuring fell over the shoved-together lionesses at the opposite end of the cave from where Mufasa and his family were now isolated. The fur along the rightful King's spine stood up on end, but what could he do? There was no way he could say or do anything against his brother, just watch silently as what was rightfully his was stripped away from him….

Scar gave a flick of his tail, while several rogues cried "Long Live the King!" as a sign of the ending to an inaugural speech Mufasa had not been paying attention to. With that, the males broke ranks, and while some just lay down and stretched out, most of them lunged straight for the females, unable to control their overwhelming desires any longer. This of course meant that Sarabi was able to finally get up and get back to her cubs. Wordlessly, she gathered the three of them close to her, and sobbed silently, Mufasa was helpless to try and comfort her. There were no actions, no words…

Before he could even think Scar was in front of him.

"Shut that cub up, will you?" he said, glowering towards the group at Sarabi's feet.

"_Don't come any closer_," Mufasa growled, trying to sound threatening, though his voice wobbled.

"Is that any way to speak to your king, Mufasa?"

"You're no king, Scar. Only a coward. Why else would you have brought these rogues with you?"

Before Scar could reply, someone cut ahead of him.

"Who's to say we didn't want to come here?"

Damu finally broke his silence, stepping delicately out of the shadows despite his hulking frame, to stand almost in the centre of the den. He continued.

"After all, there's plenty of prey, enough water, nice den… a godsend after the likes of you sent us to where we've come from."

He let the silence linger for a moment longer.

"And for me," he murmured, "it's personal."

Scar's ears pricked up; finally ready to hear the story he had been desperate to hear for so long.

"For those of you who don't know," Damu said, addressing the pride for the first time, "I had a brother. His name was Mkali. We came to these Pridelands about nine moons ago."

Mufasa stayed silent as the memories flooded back to him. He hadn't told anyone about that day, figuring it wasn't important. Oh gods, how wrong he was now.

"Mufasa heard tell that we were here, so naturally there was a confrontation… which led to a fight…"

The sheer hatred in Damu's multicoloured gaze meant that his face was completely twisted into a glare so sinister it seemed heart stopping.

"And then your great wonderful king tore out Mkali's throat," Damu waited as the den was plunged into an even more deafening silence, "so much for your precious "circle of life"."

He looked deep into Mufasa's eyes, and whispered, in an undertone, "_I will destroy you._"

He turned to leave, but found the entrance blocked by the silhouette of a lioness.

"Zira," he said, sounding half annoyed and half shocked, "where on earth were you?"

The lioness was very battered in appearance, with a large chunk missing from an ear, but the things that had most attracted the pride landers' attention were her face and paws. They were red and soaked in blood.

"Hunting," she said, casually, gazing around the den, "do you know how long it's been since I ate something fresh?"

"Shouldn't you have been here, helping us?"

Zira ignored him, instead approaching Scar, leaving a bloody trail of paw prints behind her, adding to the splatters which covered the floor.

"Nice home you have here," she said, quietly, before skulking into the shadows and out of sight.

As Scar's nerves were briefly set off with excitement, he snapped his gaze back to that of his brother. The two just glared at each other, until Scar broke the silence.

"Hand those cubs over," he said, quietly yet dangerously, "and I might just go easier on you."

"Do what you want, Scar," Mufasa replied, equally as threatening, "but I'm not going to let you win this time."

"Fine, but never forget, one way or another, I always get what I want…"

With that, he turned and slowly left the den, Mufasa and Sarabi watching him the entire time.

* * *

><p>Scar followed Damu's retreating scent all the way to the waterhole. Upon seeing him from a distance, the adult lion lowered himself into a crouch and crept up silently behind him.<p>

"I know you're there, Scar."

Scar sighed. He'd never been much of a hunter. He walked over, sat down beside him, and stole a glance at his face. For the first time since Scar had known him, Damu's face showed proper emotion. Deep within his scarred visage, although it wasn't obvious, his eyes showed sadness and grief.

"Now you know," Damu muttered.

"All the more reason to get rid of him," Scar replied, hoping to gain even more of Damu's trust.

"That bastard," Damu mumbled, "I'll gut him! Like a gazelle, I'll gut him, so help me!"

The anger had returned, and he began to pace backwards and forwards furiously, grunting and snorting his displeasure. He looked back at Scar.

"Let's get this done. Sooner rather than later."

Scar smiled, his teeth and eyes gleaming in the moonlight.

"I have a plan."

* * *

><p>Back at Pride rock, the females reunited with their cubs, and tried to attend to each others' wounds. But for those without cubs, many had already been forced to submit to various rogues, some to more than one at a time. Mufasa and Sarabi had moved into one of the far corners of the den, so as to better defend the cubs from a threat should one present itself. Kobe and Shanni were now once again sleeping peacefully at Sarabi's feet, so innocent and unaware of the unimaginable danger they were now in. Simba, however, was wide awake, and was pressed up against the wall, eyes wide and staring, desperate to be conscious of any danger lurking ahead. No one had spoken for some time.<p>

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sarabi whispered suddenly, so as not to wake the cubs, "why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I didn't want to worry you."

"Worry me? You didn't think it would be good for the rest of us to know that there was going to be a vengeful rogue, who looks much stronger than you, by the way, after you and your children's blood?"

"I thought that-"

"And _why _did you have to kill him? Rogues come to the pride lands all the time and you've _never _killed any of them!"

"You really think I knew that this would happen?"

"No, but you could have used your imagination! If someone _killed _someone you care about you'd want revenge!"

"And that almost happened didn't it?"

"That's not what this is about!"

"Isn't it? That's why Scar brought those rogues here! That's why _everything _that's happened happened! That's why Ni died! That's why Simba's the way he is! That's why-"

Sarabi had had enough. Without another word, she rushed over to where Sarafina and another group of lionesses stood, speaking to them in hushed tones. It had been a long time since they'd had a fight like that.

Mufasa turned to Simba, who stared up at him with large eyes.

"I didn't mean it, Simba," he sighed. He looked at his son's leg, which had another fresh gash on it, "are you ok?"

The cub was too petrified to even speak, and he was still shaking. His father turned away again, wincing slightly at the pain in his shoulder, and fixated his gaze on the cave entrance once more.

They didn't know it yet, but things were about to get much, much worse.

**Woo hoo! We're back in action! While you're here do me a couple of favours:**

**Go read/review my short story "The Flood", please? It's only half done, but it didn't seem to get very many reviews at all.**

**Go vote on the poll on my page!**

**Thanks, and see you soon! (Much sooner than last time, I promise!)**


	11. More Tragedy

**This chapter is coming to you from my brand new laptop! I got it for passing my GCSEs, and I did far better than I had hoped. I got a B in Add maths, two As in Science, and A*s in Maths, Geography, English, English lit, French, Spanish and RS. I was so happy! And now, the chapter.**

Chapter Ten: More Tragedy 

Of course, no one slept again for the rest of the night, apart from Kobe and Shanni. With Sarabi gone, Mufasa stood protectively over them, while Simba continued to cower behind him. His wide eyes never left the den entrance, and his rigid body remained crouched, without moving, for several hours. Luckily for him, Scar was gone for the rest of the night, as was Damu. In fact, only a few rogues remained inside Pride Rock. The ones who had not yet claimed a lioness for themselves merely lay sprawled on the floor, not yet accustomed to such luxurious living conditions. Not all of them were this way, however. Mufasa could see the young lioness Reeva trapped in between two particularly battered looking rogues. They kept trying to nuzzle and lick her, and she of course had no choice but to submit. It made the old King shudder to think what the females who had been taken outside were being subjected to.

Among the congregated lionesses with their cubs to the side of the den, Mufasa could see a heavily pregnant Arianna. He was suddenly very concerned for her: would she be subjected to the same tortures as before? Or would another have to become his brother's latest victim? Whoever they were, in Scar's current state, this seemed a very dangerous prospect. His desire for an heir would be even greater now.

He finally returned when rays of golden morning light were streaming through the den entrance. Mufasa heard Simba give a small squeak of fright as he entered, however, he stalked past everyone and ascended the stone steps up to his den, which had remained un-entered ever since he had left. It suddenly occurred to Mufasa that the den had been sealed without removing the dead hyena first. He prayed for its carcass to have been gnawed away by starving rats, but this wish was not granted. Scar came sweeping out of the den, dragging with him the completely rotten corpse of the ex-sentry hyena. It was an extremely grotesque sight: its eye sockets were completely empty, while its torn flesh was a sickening green colour, and completely covered with flies. Upon seeing this, Sarabi darted back to where Mufasa stood, shielding the now awakened cubs from the horrifying scene before them. The lionesses closest to Scar could only screw up their faces as the putrefying scent filled their mouths and nostrils, a few even retching audibly. Much to Mufasa's dismay, and Simba's ever growing anguish, Scar was headed right for them. He was less than a tail length away from them when he dumped the carcass on the den floor in front of them.

"_This is what waits for you," _he whispered, dangerously, _"This is what waits for all of you. Just you wait and see…"_

Simba couldn't contain his fright anymore, Scar was far too close, and he was backed up as far against the wall as he could be. Upon hearing his words he let out a cry of anguish, and began to breathe faster and shallower. Looking at the dead hyena's mangled body did nothing to calm him down. It seemed to have a similar effect on Kobe and Shanni: not only was Scar something to be feared for them now, but the rotten corpse was also terrifying to their young eyes. One of them was crying again, causing Scar to sigh from sheer annoyance: he had never liked cubs. Lowering his head to their level, he gave a snap and a growl, causing the two infants to reel backwards and Simba to flatten himself to the floor in terror (the desired effect). Mufasa could take it no longer: he roared loudly and lunged for his brother. Before he could attack him properly, however, Damu entered the den. His multi-coloured eyes immediately snapped to the scene, taking it in. Mufasa held his gaze, breathing heavily.

_Go on, _it seemed to say, _I dare you._

Mufasa sighed, inwardly, and backed up. He couldn't fight Scar now, not with Damu here. If he got involved, things could only end badly, for everyone. Scar smirked back at him, then down at the cubs, before turning on his heel and returning to his den.

Just before he entered, he stopped and stared down at them.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Mufasa," he said, smoothly, "you never know when I could be waiting around the corner…"

Mufasa made one last feeble attempt at a growl, but it failed to be menacing in the slightest. Scar continued to jeer, and made to enter the den.

"Oh, and, one more thing..."

Mufasa continued to glare up at him.

"Shut that cub up, I'm trying to sleep."

With that, he disappeared from sight. Mufasa continued to watch the space where he had just been, long after he was gone. At least, this time around, none of the cubs were trapped up there with him, but there was much greater cause for anguish, now. Pride Rock was under siege. The rest of the Kingdom needed to know. He rapidly scanned the den for any sign of Zazu. There was none, maybe he was already gone?

He then looked down at the dead hyena before him, feeling a little sick as he did so. Sarabi had moved the cubs even further back, to where Simba was pressing himself so hard into the wall that he might soon hurt himself. His eyes rapidly darted between Scar's den and the carcass on the ground, wider than ever. There was only one thing for it. Mufasa picked up the corpse, and rapidly dropped it again as the sickening taste of it filled his mouth. He lifted it again, and, doing his best to ignore his brain, he dragged it across the den floor and outside.

Even though it was morning, there was no sign of life around Pride Rock. Maybe Zazu had managed to warn everyone that it wasn't safe. Not stopping for long, he continued to drag the hyena down the stone steps to somewhere far away from the den. He eventually found a sizeable bush and dumped it in there. As he turned to leave, he could already hear the scurrying of rats as they made towards it, ready to devour what was left. Not wanting to leave Sarabi and the cubs alone for too long, he made to run back to Pride Rock, but he stopped. He heard a squeal, followed by the sound of a sobbing lioness, nearby. As he listened harder, he could also hear the sound of a male, the sound of heavy breathing. As he ran towards where the noise had come from, he skidded around a large rock and stopped dead in his tracks. A large male, one of the rogues, was hunched on top of a smallish lioness, in a huge pool of blood. Her back and sides were covered in claw marks, while a gaping wound was visible on her neck, terrible consequences of the rogue's over-excitedness. The female lay still on the ground, dead.

"_You…" _Mufasa began, almost too shocked to speak. The rogue chuckled.

"She just couldn't keep up with me," he laughed, stepping lightly off of her, not unaware of the disgust on Mufasa's face. The lionesses' blood was still dripping from his jaw. This rogue had no major distinguishing features other than many scars all over his body. He wasn't particularly big, but the small lioness had been all but crushed beneath him. He slunk away in the direction of pride rock, doubtless to find a replacement. Mufasa hurried over to the lioness, and nudged her, to look for any sign of life. There was none. He knew her name was Kimya. She had been one of the Pride's best hunters, her small stature making for excellent speed and agility… as his heart filled with sadness for this blatant waste of life, a thought occurred to him. The others needed to know, and they'd probably want to pay their respects along with him. Despite the testing circumstances, she would have a proper farewell.

He turned and sprinted back to Pride Rock, for only the gods knew what could have happened during the short time he was gone. Upon entering, he saw that Sarabi had re-joined the group of lionesses, the cubs with her. Everyone turned to look at him, not missing the blood on his face.

"Mufasa," Sarabi began, "what on earth-?"

"Kimya is dead," he said flatly, for there was no other way to put it. They all gasped, and there were several cries of anguish and disbelief. Sarabi could only stare at him, her shock evident on her face.

"But, where? How?!"

Wordlessly, Mufasa turned, and they all followed him, cubs and all, out of the den and off Pride Rock, as he led them to where their fallen comrade lay. When they arrived, the females came forward systematically to say their final goodbyes. Sarabi was the last to step up and nuzzle her for one final time, tears streaming down her face.

"Aiheu ni kubwa," said Mufasa quietly, being the first to break the silence after a long time.

"Aiheu ni busara," the lionesses replied. With that, they began to head back to Pride Rock, the sun half visible over the horizon. While Sarabi made to follow them, she realised Mufasa hadn't moved. The cubs still pressed close to her, she walked towards him, and pressed herself against his flank. The earlier argument seemed forgotten as they both stared sadly down at Kimya's dead body, where it would wait to be claimed by Aiheu and the lions of the celestial pride.

"What a waste…" said Mufasa finally.

"I know," Sarabi replied, quietly, nuzzling his mane. There was a pause, in which they both looked down at the cubs. Kobe and Shanni regarded the dead body with wide, innocent eyes, while Simba was facing in the complete opposite direction, low to the ground, doubtless on the watch for more danger. Mufasa looked back to Kimya. Her vigil had not been ideal, with around nearly half of the lionesses not there.

"Will there be more like this?" Sarabi asked, slightly scared sounding. She too must have been thinking of the others, "Who could do such a thing?"

"Uchafu, I believe."

As Simba gave another gasp of terror, Mufasa and Sarabi whipped around. Who should be standing before them but Damu, claws out and eyes gleaming. As Mufasa assumed an aggressive stance once more, Sarabi rapidly collected the cubs together, and crouched over them, staring fearfully up at the new threat.

"Stay back," Mufasa commanded, but Damu nonchalantly strode around him to look at Kimya's body.

"Dear me," he said, "she was so pretty. I must warn Uchafu to be more careful."

He looked back up at them.

"I'm giving you one last chance," he said, "surrender the cubs now and you'll simply be exiled. Refuse and it'll be much more painful later, and not nearly so clean."

Simba flattened himself to the ground, staring fearfully up at Damu. His father wouldn't really hand them over, would he?

"And I'm telling you one last time," Mufasa replied without any hesitation, "_no._"

Damu glared back at him.

"You'll regret this. Dear gods how you'll regret this."

And with that, he was gone, back in the direction of Pride Rock. As Mufasa watched him go, his heart and mind filled with fear and uncertainty for the future. Everything seemed completely hopeless.

He had to do something, but what that was, he had no idea.


	12. On the Hunt

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**Enough blethering, ONWARD! **

Chapter Eleven: On the Hunt

For a long time, no one said anything at all. The only sounds that could be heard were birds passing overhead and the other animals in the distance, keeping well away from Pride rock. Mufasa glanced at Sarabi, only to find her on the verge of tears yet again. He looked to the cubs cowering beneath her, all three of them focusing on where Damu's retreating back could be seen walking in the general direction of their home. He wasn't sure whether it would be a good choice to return: the only things waiting there for them would be Scar and the rogues… but where else could they go? Yes there were strange lions in the den, but by now many of them must have spread all over the Pride Lands as well. The situation seemed absolutely hopeless.

"Come on," Mufasa finally said, his throat dry, "we should go back to Pride Rock."

To his surprise, Sarabi didn't argue, merely dipping her head as a sign of affirmation. Mufasa bent down and picked up Shanni in his mouth. Not only had the two infants had to walk such a long distance on their tiny paws, but who knew when Scar or Damu or a group of rogues might be waiting to snatch one of the cubs away. Sarabi did the same with Kobe and the group headed silently back to the cave, Simba pressing himself close to Mufasa's foreleg the entire way.

When they arrived back at Pride Rock, no sooner had they entered the cave when Sarafina came hurrying towards them. The look on her face could only mean that something was terribly, terribly wrong.

"'Fina," Sarabi said, gently setting Kobe on the floor, "what's wrong?"

Sarafina seemed quite breathless, so much so that she couldn't say anything. She looked as if she could cry at any moment.

"Sarafina?" Mufasa repeated, "what's going on?"

She took only a few more seconds to compose herself enough to speak.

"Before you got here," she said, slowly, "Scar told us we had to go hunting for him and all the rogues."

Mufasa and Sarabi swapped confused looks. Why was this so bad?

"What's wrong with that? There's plenty of prey, I can send a few of the lionesses out and the others can-"

"No!" Sarafina cried, suddenly so animated that the two other lions jumped back slightly, "they want water buffalo!"

To take down enough water buffalo to satisfy all of the rogues would take almost all the lionesses in the pride, and since many were absent, every available female would have to join the hunt. Mufasa and Sarabi were still confused as to why this was cause for such anguish.

"And then," Sarafina said, a deep sob escaping from her throat, "he said that Mufasa would still be responsible for patrolling the border, and that he would have to do it from dawn until dusk every day!"

"But, Scar's the King!" Mufasa cried, indignantly, "_he _should be the one to-"

But, he stopped mid-sentence, for he had just seen Sarabi's face. Her mouth hung open and her eyes were wide, sudden realisation etched deep within her features.

"Sarabi?"

"Oh my gods…" she whispered, "Oh Sweet Aiheu…"

Mufasa could only look from her to the now crying Sarafina, still unaware of the terrible situation.

"Don't you see what he's doing?" Sarabi breathed, looking paler than a ghost, "can't you see his plan?!"

Awareness hit Mufasa as if icy water had just been dumped over him. With him patrolling the border, and Sarabi and the rest of the lionesses hunting, the cubs would be wide open and defenceless, ready to be oh-so-easily snatched up by a rogue. It was such a simple plan, and he had nearly missed it. He looked over to the other lionesses, still huddled together with their cubs, looking equally as anguished as Sarafina. They all knew, once Simba, Kobe and Shanni were dealt with, theirs were next…

It was then that Scar came sauntering out of his den, his brief nap clearly over. Before Mufasa had time to think, he was right in front of them.

"Haven't you ladies got some hunting to do?" he crooned, his old arrogance fully restored, "and you, those borders aren't going to patrol themselves."

"You're right," said Mufasa, "they aren't, and as King that's _your _responsibility."

"Yes, but as _your _King, it's my due that you do as I say."

Then, looking down at Simba, whose eyes were squeezed tight shut, he continued, "we wouldn't want anything bad to happen, now, would we?"

Simba was so flat to the floor that he looked as though he could have been stepped on. His paws were on top of his head and he seemed to be muttering something rapidly, though what it was, no one could make out.

"Remember, all of you, " Scar called out, "do as we say and you'll be unharmed."

"Yes, but you'll just have your cubs killed, that's all."

Scar who had turned his back, slowly turned around again. Sarabi couldn't supress a gasp at what Mufasa had just said, whist he just stared defiantly back at his brother.

"_Get out there and patrol or I'll kill those cubs right now_," he seethed in such an icy yet heated tone that Mufasa was taken aback. The glare of sheer hatred in those luminous green eyes let him know that his brother wasn't kidding. With one last glance around the den, he turned and left, ready to mark the border.

Shortly after, the females left to hunt, with nowhere near the needed amount of lionpower to take down the number of buffalo they needed. Even an old or sick cow would need six or seven lionesses to kill it, and that was just one. The sheer number that they needed would mean that the exhausted females would have to keep going until they had enough. They had a choice: to face the wrath of Scar and the starving rogues or oblige them and risk having their cubs killed. The decision had been made that each female would hide her cubs as best she could and just pray to Aiheu that they hadn't been followed and wouldn't be discovered.

Sarabi led Simba, Shanni and Kobe to a spot not too far away from where the buffalo herd were grazing. The grass was tall and above their heads, while there was also a thick covering of bushes to conceal them further. She stopped and turned to her eldest.

"Stay here," she said, "and try not to make a sound. Make sure your brother and sister don't wander off and stay together, whatever happens."

Simba, terrified at the concept of being left completely alone, just nodded, a torrent of terrible potential situations flying around his brain. Sarabi gave him a fleeting lick on top of his head, nuzzled Kobe and Shanni, and hurried away out of sight. The buffalo herd was quite near to the border, she could only hope that there was a chance that Mufasa could be close by.

Simba crouched and listened to the sounds of the savannah (for now, it was relatively quiet), all while the two infants just stared at him, with wide, unblinking eyes. The three of them had never been alone together like this; the last time their mother had left was when they at least had other lionesses and cubs with them. That was when Simba had been stupid and lost them, no wonder Sarabi had had to remind him to make sure they stayed together.

After only a short while, Kobe and Shanni began to playfully pounce on one another in a play fight. Simba couldn't see how this was any time for fun, he was far too scared and alert: ears pricked up to detect any sign of danger approaching. He couldn't help but think of all kinds of threats that there could be: snakes were quite common in undergrowth like this, weren't they? What about jackals? Crocodiles? Leopards? Rogues? His breath hitched at the thought of the final one. Who's to say they weren't headed here right now?

A distant roar did nothing to calm him down. If anything, he only began to panic more. He craned his neck slightly to try and peer over the top of the grass. Seeing nothing, he momentarily relaxed. Hopefully, his mother would soon return and for now, things might be OK.

"_Psst! Simba_!"

Completely taken by surprise, Simba gave a shriek and reeled backwards deeper into the undergrowth. Kobe and Shanni, equally frightened by their brother's sudden panic, shot back with him, pressing themselves tight against his sides. When the source of the noise presented itself, however, they all calmed down somewhat. Out of the brush stepped Chumvi, Kula, Nala and Mheetu.

Simba gave a slight sigh of exasperation.

"Will you _stop _doing that?" he said, "You always have to scare me!"

"Sorry," Chumvi replied, "I just didn't want anyone to hear us."

Ever since the incident with the spy-rogue, Simba's contact with the rest of his friends had been severely limited. It made Simba feel somewhat better that his friends now looked as scared as he had been following his release from Scar's den, but equally, it scared him that they all appeared to have lost their former happy demeanours.

"I got scared on my own with Mheetu," said Nala, "so I tried to find someone else. I bumped into Chumvi and Kula, and then we found you."

"We figured there'd be more safety in numbers," added Kula.

"Then you'd better keep going," Simba said, flatly.

"Why?"

"Don't you realise? I'm the one they're after! If they come and find you they'll keep looking, but if you're with me they'll take us all."

"Then that's why we have to stay with you," Chumvi said, stepping up, "I'm not letting my best friend go down alone. They come for you; they'll have to go through me first!"

He gave a small smile, but Simba wasn't reassured. Kula looked around.

"Should we go try to find the others?" she said, nervously, "staying in one place is making me worried."

"My mom told me not to move from here," Simba said, "I have to look after-"

The two of them were still nestled tight against him. Simba shoved them away, still not quite used to them even after everything that had happened. Still they just stared at him, before Shanni opened her mouth and began to wail. Simba rolled his eyes: now he'd done it.

"Simba! Now look what you did!" cried Kula, coming over to try and comfort the crying cub, "don't you know anything about cubs?"

"No," Simba said, truthfully. Then, slightly more concernedly, "but make her stop, will you? We might be-"

In the not-so-far-away distance, they could hear the sound of hundreds of snorting buffalo, a sign that the lionesses were beginning the hunt. That, however, wasn't what had caused them all to freeze. First they heard it, then they smelt it. Finally, they saw it, and oh what a terrifying sight it was.

A rogue, seemingly as humongous as a boulder, was nearby, rootling through the undergrowth in search of cubs. At the sound of the crying, his head shot up, and he looked in their direction, eyes gleaming. Simba flattened himself to the floor, as did the others, and began to back away deeper into the undergrowth beneath a bush. Shanni, however, did not cease.

"_Stop!_" Simba whispered, desperately, "_for the love of Aiheu, stop!" _

But she didn't, and the rogue was coming closer. The look on his face meant he knew his quarry was right in front of him. His eyes were fixated on their location, and a wide grin was spread across his visage, like he knew he would be rewarded for this. He was merely a few tail lengths away now. The others looked to Simba, as if to say, _should we run? _No. Even if they did, it wouldn't help them now, and there was no way Kobe and Shanni would ever be able to keep up. Despite his awkwardness with them, Simba was still desperate to prove to his parents that he could be responsible. His mother had told him to stay here, so that's what he would do, watching the rogue come closer and closer. Did this mean his death was imminent? He wondered how much it would hurt. It would surely happen this time, there was no way he could avoid it _again_. While this was happening, however, he could hear a rumble. It was a rumble that he knew he had heard before, and it was getting louder. Much louder, and he could hear snorting, too. It finally clicked in his head: it was exactly like the sound of thousands of wildebeest spilling into the gorge all those moons ago. Louder still. Closer still. Louder still. Closer still…

The imminent events could only have been torn straight from one of Simba's nightmares. The rogue's face appeared over the top of the grass, a triumphant grin plastered all over it. Nala and Kula screamed, but Chumvi moved closer to Simba. His little claws were out, and his small cub teeth were bared, though the look on his face showed extreme uncertainty. Sweet Aiheu, he wasn't going to _fight _the rogue, was he?

"Gotcha," the rogue chuckled. He looked down at Chumvi, who was now attempting a growl. This only made the rogue laugh more, and he took a giant-looking step towards them.

There was an almighty crash from behind them as something came tearing out of the bushes. The expression on the rogue's face rapidly switched from glee to extreme shock. A fully grown, very angry looking, male buffalo had just charged through the undergrowth, its huge hooves scattering the cubs in all directions. One had come down barely an inch beside Simba, and he was knocked away, losing Kobe and Shanni in the fray. With a great swing of its head, the buffalo sent the rogue flying into the air, one of its horns tearing through his soft belly and neck like a dagger. Blood and innards rained from the sky, and there was a dull thud as the body hit the ground. Whether or not the lion was dead was unclear, but there was no time for anyone to think about it. There were buffalo everywhere, and it was not unknown to the cubs that they were a threat. Within seconds of the rogue's apparent demise, the horns and hooves of the enraged animals were turned onto the cubs. One lunged for Simba, missing him by mere inches as he desperately flung himself away. A lioness streaked out of nowhere and launched herself at the nearest bull, landing on its head and biting down into its shoulder. More females appeared in a valiant attempt to distract the buffalo away from where they had hidden their cubs, but without avail. To them, any lion cubs now would only grow to be a threat to them and their young in the future, so killing them was imperative. Simba still continued his frantic search for his siblings, hooves coming at him from every direction. He rapidly weaved and sidestepped around them, often just barely missing them. It was no good though, Kobe and Shanni or any of the others were nowhere to be seen. The bellows and roars were deafening, and he was disorientated beyond belief. Everywhere he looked there were buffaloes, with the odd lioness trying to ward it off. It seemed that the entire herd was now crashing around in search of cub slaughter. Simba's stomach would drop when he could see a distant animal lunging for the ground. He could only pray to Aiheu to spare his friends' lives and that they would all make it out. With adrenaline still coursing through his body, he spotted Kobe, frantically trying to dodge the hooves of a bull trying to crush him. The tall grass had been all but completely flattened by the stampeding animals, so it was easy for him to see. He made to run towards his brother, who was maybe only moments away from being gored to death by the buffalo's horns. He was barely metres away when a hoof flew out of seemingly nowhere. It connected with Simba's face, and the force of the impact sent the cub flying backwards. His spine collided with a boulder, and he landed on the ground, a piercing pain coursing through his rear leg. He spat out a great mouthful of blood, choking on some while he did so, while his vision began to haze. The last images he saw were of crazed buffaloes charging, and of desperate lionesses trying to stop them.

Mufasa was patrolling not so far away. His mind was a mixture of worry for what was happening to his cubs right now, and anger at Scar and his sheer lack of responsibility. He didn't even see the point in patrolling, pretty much every rogue that had been a threat in the past had now allied with the Outsiders and was either lounging around at Pride Rock or releasing their built up desires on a lioness somewhere in the Pride Lands. He soon became aware of the sound of rumbling hooves not too far away. His first thought was of Sarabi and the lionesses, and it was probably them hunting. He then thought of the cubs, maybe they weren't hiding too far away? He was considering going to investigate when he heard a scream, and several roars. There was an extremely loud, angry bellow, followed by an agonised cry of pain. He didn't wait any longer, instead sprinting towards the apparent chaos as fast as he was able. He swerved around a fallen tree trunk and didn't hesitate before diving into the fray. His first priority was to find his cubs, a sheer sense of utter déjà vu coursing through him: he had been in this situation before. He couldn't see Sarabi, but he could see other lionesses everywhere. Every so often a buffalo would lunge for the ground. Although it would have been lunging for a cub, there was no indication as to whether it had been successful or not in hitting its target.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of searching, dodging, and running, Mufasa spotted Shanni crouched at the base of a bush, with several huge bulls bearing down on her. One of their horns was larger than the cub's entire body, it made to Mufasa's stomach scream to think what could potentially happen within the next few seconds. He slid into the gap between two of them, snatched up the tiny cub, and rapidly sprinted away from the chaos. He set her down beside a rock, and was about to turn back to the pandemonium, when he heard a cry.

"_Mufasa! Oh dear Gods, Mufasa!"_

It was Sarabi, sprinting towards him with Kobe desperately trying to keep up behind her. She hurriedly swept Shanni up in a motherly embrace before snapping her vision back to Mufasa again.

"Where's Simba?!"

"I don't know, I can't find him!"

They both looked to the stampeding animals nearby. It seemed to slowly dying down, with more and more buffalos abandoning the search. Sarabi let out a cry of anguish at the sight, at the thought that her cub might be dead, after everything he had been through thus far. Mufasa stared too, knowing that, once the herd was gone, he would have to go and find his son.

Whether he was dead or alive, though, was anyone's guess.

**A 3000+ word chapter? Wow. That's a lot for me.**

**The vote is still up on my profile!**

**Reviews are appreciated.**

**God, it's nearly 1 AM. I have school in seven and a half hours. What am I doing?**


	13. Aftermath

**This edition of "User- Review-Reply-Section" will be followed by a note from yours truly **

**11Reviews for Chapter 12! A record for this story, possibly?**

**KaliJes: I'm glad you're so eager to read on! The reasons for my absence will be detailed in a minute or two.**

**AuditoresGirl: Thanks very much is all I can say. And bee tee dubz I love Assasin's Creed **

**Lew Leon: Don't think you're being harsh! I like it when reviewers tell the truth. As I think I mentioned to GeminiGemelo in a PM the action is going to die down a bit now and there will be more development/emotion hopefully (that is my hope, anyway…)**

**Dragonchild157: And I'm doing it again right now! Huzzah for late night fanfic-writing! I'm not the biggest fan of Timon and Pumbaa… I don't really see how they could fit but sometimes I do consider giving them a fleeting cameo of some description. We'll just have to wait and see.**

**Yay: Thanks, I'm glad you like it! **

**Danielle: I am.**

**GeminiGemelo: I believe I PM'd you a while ago about this, but yes, action will be decreasing now and there will hopefully be more plot and character development. And congratulations on winning the MLK writing contest just there now **

**Guest: Ask anyone who's read Captive, I live for Cliff Hangers :P and thank you for all your kind words.**

**PirateWizardThief: Zira will be coming soon. Possibly this chapter or the next. She will definitely be a more active part of the story now , though. I did put her in it for a reason. **

**PetitPrincess: You're finally getting your update! Sorry for the lateness, and hurrah for Scar hatred!**

**DM: Thank you! Glad you like **

_**And Now: A Special Message from Ninaroja**_

**Many of you may be wondering why after my hiatus I said I'd be writing much more often and then I suddenly went away for nearly four months again. Well, I'm going to have to be truthful about this, but I think it's ok, since I'm pretty much anonymous here. I've not been having the most pleasant of times recently. In fact, I've been struggling with some of the same issues as Simba has now I think about it. Anxiety, stress, paranoia, fear… trouble is, I've been feeling that way constantly. It interferes with everything from my school work to my self-esteem, my confidence and of course my writing. What makes it worse is that the only way I could think to try and cope with this was to not tell anyone, but instead take it out on myself. I've been self-harming since September. **

**I'm lucky in that I have the most wonderful friends who could see I was struggling and got help for me. Things are starting to get a little brighter again. I've been meeting new people and trying new things.**

**I'm not in any way attention seeking or trying to make you feel sorry for me, but as the people who have supported my endeavours in my life's greatest passion I felt you had the right to know.**

**Thank you, and enjoy the chapter**

**~Niña Roja**

Chapter Twelve: Aftermath

Mufasa didn't hesitate a moment longer. He strode quickly forward towards the area where the stampede had been, fear still coursing through him from the shock of it all. He would have run, but he was dreading what he might find so much that he didn't want to rush it. He couldn't bear to even try to brace himself for what he may potentially discover.

The clearing was spattered with blood, and there was a lone buffalo slowly plodding away. Mufasa watched it go, and his stomach suddenly clenched at what he noticed. A tawny cub was impaled on the end of one of the bull's great horns, and its little body flopped to the ground with one shake of the beast's head. He darted forwards, and gasped as he stepped upon another dead cub, battered almost completely beyond recognition. Neither of these cubs were Simba, but it didn't stop his heart from breaking at the sight. He thought of the lionesses that had yet to discover their dead young, and felt even worse.

"Simba?!" he called through the silence. Nothing. He could feel his heart beating so hard against his rib-cage that it hurt. Sheer panic was running through him just as the stampede had torn through the clearing. He would have fallen to the ground right then, crying out in sheer despair, but the desire to know his son's true fate was overwhelming. This uncertainty was an all too familiar feeling.

A cry from behind him signalled that a lioness had just found her child's mutilated body, sending another shooting pain through the ex-king's body. Her wails continued to ring through the open air. It was one of the most desperate sounds Mufasa had ever heard, second only to Sarabi's sobs the night Simba had been taken from them. Determined as ever, his search continued.

For a seemingly long time, he yielded nothing from his endeavours, and the body count was climbing. He happened upon the body of a rogue lion, its entire underbelly was ripped open, and he could see buzzards were already circling high above, ready to devour the carcass and strip it bare as soon as the lions had left. As Mufasa examined the body, he recognised Uchafu, the lion that had all but crushed and slashed Kimya to death. As much as he felt like the lion deserved it, after what he'd done, he could feel his morals beginning to nag at him. Good or bad, it was still death, and still a life gone.

After what seemed an eternity, but in reality was much, much shorter, he found his son, crumpled in a dusty golden heap at the base of a thorn bush. He was completely motionless. Mufasa gulped, and took a deep breath, before stepping forward and peering over him. Panic welling inside him, he quickly rolled Simba onto his back, and pressed his ear to the cub's chest. In an instant, he felt relief washing over him as he heard the sure and steady thuds of a heartbeat thumping back at him. He felt his whole being relax slightly as all the tension and panic he had felt during the attack quickly drained away.

Another agonised howl sounded from behind him, which caused Mufasa yet another aching thought: the lionesses were under the impression that as long as Simba, Kobe and Shanni were safe, their cubs would remain unharmed. Yet, now, although the three former seemed alive and well, some of the lionesses' could no longer hold onto the fact that their offspring were ok, too. Looking back, he couldn't see who the lioness or her cub were, but later on he knew he would know all about it.

Sarabi appeared in his field of vision, having followed him from a distance, Kobe and Shanni close by her. She gave a small shriek at the sight of Simba.

"It's all right," Mufasa said, quietly, "he's alive."

Relief was evident in Sarabi's facial expression. She hurried forwards and lay down in the long grass, scooping her son up by the neck and gently laying him down in her paws. As she began to lick his face, Mufasa noticed that his mouth and nostrils were encrusted with blood. How it had gotten there was unknown, for now. His rear leg, too, seemed twisted and bent at an odd angle to the cub's body. He settled down beside her and looked on forlornly, reflecting on the last twenty four hours and how much had managed to happen in such a short space of time. He barely noticed Kobe and Shanni clumsily climb between his paws and nuzzle into his mane, seeking comfort from the terrifying situation they had just survived. He glanced down at them as they stared back up, their huge eyes almost bulging out of their tiny faces. He couldn't help but think that their conception had been a mistake, stress relief more than anything else. This was such a dangerous time to be alive for anyone, but the very young especially. They were directly in Scar's line of fire, Mufasa had absolutely no clue how they would ever be able to keep them protected.

Sarabi's head suddenly shot up, as did Mufasa's at the same time, at the sound of a single, terrible cry.

"_Nala!" _

It could only mean that something was horribly, horribly wrong. It was not a sound of joy that Sarafina had discovered her cub had survived, but of sheer horror of the utmost kind. Mufasa stood up.

"I'll… I'll go look," he said, his voice wobbling noticeably. He took a shaky step forward, towards where the sound had come from. He could not only see Sarafina where the grass had been trampled completely flat, he could also hear her, crying. It only got louder as he came nearer. When he was merely a few tail lengths away, he failed to supress a gasp: Nala lay on the ground before her mother, also crying. The grass around where she lay was spattered with blood, as more oozed from a huge, gaping wound on her rear leg. It looked as though a bull horn had gone right through it. A terrified looking Mheetu cowered nearby, and although he was thankfully uninjured, his snow white fur was covered in his sister's blood.

As Mufasa's shadow fell across her, Sarafina looked up, her cheeks streaked with tears. No one said anything (What could they?). As the silence continued, the lioness suddenly stood up. She thrust her face into Mufasa's mane and continued to sob. He tried to comfort her by placing a paw on her back, though the bloodied cub on the ground was distracting him.

"Don't go back to Pride Rock," he whispered gently into her ear, "go to Rafiki's tree. He'll help her."

She broke out of their embrace and looked at him, before nodding silently. She stooped to lift her daughter before slowly, solemnly, without saying a word to her other cub or anyone, beginning the walk to the mandrill's tree, little Mheetu scrambling after her. As he watched them go, Mufasa could only hope they would make it in time. Even though the wound wasn't fatal, it was still extremely big on Nala's tiny body. It could be open to all manner of infections, some of which _could _be lethal. The lion shuddered at the thought: he had no idea the extent of the last hour's fatalities, but he was sure they could not afford to lose any more cubs.

He headed back to where Sarabi and the cubs were, and breathed a sigh of relief to see his son's side gently rising and falling in rhythm. He lay down again and let the other cubs fall against him once more. This spot was pretty much hidden, having not been completely trampled by the buffalo. It meant the small family could lie together, veiled in grass, out of sight from any further threats, for now.

"Why did this have to happen?" Sarabi suddenly whispered.

Mufasa looked at her.

"I don't know… it just did."

"But, dear gods, don't they know what we've been through? Hasn't Simba suffered enough? And now this?"

As anguished as she looked, she looked completely beyond crying now. She had wept so much over the last nearly seven moons, it seemed like she had no tears left. She let her head slump into Mufasa's mane.

"What are we going to do?" she asked, quietly, "what _can_ we do?"

"Don't worry, we'll get through this," Mufasa replied, though he didn't know how much he was able to trust himself on that one.

"How?"

"I'm not sure," he mumbled, nuzzling her, "but we will. We'll be okay…"

He trailed off, and silence fell across the group once more. The savannah outside their temporary refuge, however, remained alive as ever, with the sound of crying lionesses prevailing above all. Sarabi winced slightly at the sound of it, moving Kobe and Shanni closer to her.

"Thank Aiheu the cubs are safe, at least."

Sarabi looked up at him, from where she was now slumped onto her mate's shoulder. Simba was still lying in her paws. All of a sudden, he gave a mighty cough, with more blood landing this time all over his mother's foreleg. She didn't seem to care, though.

"Simba!" she cried, licking his face, "thank the gods, you're all right!"

Simba, however, was looking around in great alarm. His eyes were wide, and his breathing suddenly became much shallower and quicker.

"It's ok, Simba," said Mufasa, nuzzling the top of his son's head, "you're safe now."

This did nothing to calm the cub down at all. He tried to stand up, but gave a small squeal as his injured leg crumpled beneath him.

"Simba?" Sarabi's relief at his awakening was gone. She looked utterly distressed once more, instead. Simba looked up at her, his eyes bulging, as his whole body began to quiver.

"What happened to the others?" he choked out, "where are they?"

He caught sight of Kobe and Shanni, and seemed to relax for a second, before panic reinstated itself.

"But… what about Nala and Chumvi and Kula and -"

"Nala's been injured, Simba," Mufasa said quietly, in an effort to calm the near hysterical cub down, "her mother has taken her to Rafiki's tree. I don't know about the others."

"I need to see her!" Simba cried, his eyes wet with tears, "I need to make sure she's okay!"

Simba needed to go to Rafiki anyway, and anything to delay the return to Pride Rock would be well received at the moment. Mufasa merely nodded.

"Stay here," he told Sarabi, before lifting Simba and stepping out from beneath the bush and into the sunlight. The lionesses had left the clearing, to either return to pride rock or take their grief elsewhere. Mufasa soon spotted one in the near distance, crying, but did not approach her. Simba (who currently had his back facing the lioness) could wait to discover the fate of his dead friend lying in her paws.

The walk to the old mandrill's tree seemed to take a very short time. This was perhaps due to Mufasa determinedly striding across the plains, constantly on the lookout for Scar or Damu or a rogue that may try to take him on. Simba stayed completely silent the entire journey, perhaps due to the pain in his leg. Whether or not it was broken was unclear at present, but even now, swinging through the air, it looked completely crumpled and twisted out of position. Great. That was all the cub needed right now. More injuries.

Rafiki was in front of his tree when they arrived, tending to Nala's small form on the ground, while an anxious looking Sarafina and Mheetu looked on from the side. Mufasa set Simba down.

"Rafiki!"

The mandrill looked up at the sound of his name, and gave a small smile when he saw the lion. Hobbling towards him, he was quickly pulled into a hug. The old friends had not seen each other for moons.

When the embrace had ended, Mufasa cast a look to Nala, who was nearby.

"How is she?"

"She will live," Rafiki replied, "but her injuries are very severe."

He took Mufasa (who lifted Simba up again) to have a closer look. Sure enough, now that all the blood had been cleaned away, it was clear to see. Nala's leg had been basically impaled on a buffalo horn, the ground beneath where she lay visible through the hole it had left. Simba shuffled closer to her on his three good legs.

She saw him and half smiled, but it quickly faltered when she saw his eyes fill with tears.

"I thought you'd be dead," he said, his voice cracking.

"No, I'm ok," she said, "and so is Mheetu."

Then in a more serious tone.

"Are Kobe and Shanni OK?"

Simba nodded, silently.

"What… what about Chumvi and the others?" she looked a bit more apprehensive now.

"I don't know…" Simba whispered, the tears beginning to flow down his cheeks, "I haven't seen them."

She didn't smile this time. Simba lay down on the ground beside her, and she did her best to comfort him.

Not soon after, Mufasa took Simba back to where Sarabi and the other cubs were. Rafiki had done his best, cleaning the few cuts that he had obtained during the attack and some of his older ones that had reopened, but there was little that could be done for the leg. Besides giving the cub some pain killing herbs that he had in his tree, all he could do was confirm that the leg was in fact not broken, just extremely badly twisted. Not wanting to leave Sarabi for much longer, Mufasa thanked him, gave Sarafina a reassuring nuzzle, and picked up his son to begin the journey back. By now the afternoon sun was high above their heads, yet where the savannah was once teeming with life, the only living thing to be seen the whole way back was a lone vulture that seemed to be following Mufasa. Did it think Simba was dead? Or that he would just be an easy meal to snatch while his father wasn't looking? Either way, it would be disappointed. Mufasa's resolve to protect Simba and his siblings was stronger than ever. He would never forget the promise he had made to Simba the night he became free: to never let anything bad happen to Simba again. Whether it was Scar or the vulture or anyone else.

When they arrived at the trampled clearing once more, they found Sarabi out in the open, appearing to have been waiting for their return. Her face was clouded with sadness.

Mufasa approached and set Simba down on the ground, who immediately pressed himself against his father's leg: he seemed to have noticed the vulture.

"What's wrong?" Mufasa asked, gently.

"…seven cubs died."

This news was met with a stunned, stony silence from the ex-king. Seven? That was exactly half of all the cubs. Wiped out, just like that. He had known there would be casualties, but seven? He had never expected the number to be that high. He looked down at Simba, who looked equally if not more stunned than he was. Who could blame him? He had just heard that seven of his friends were gone.

The silence continued for a little longer.

"We need to go back to Pride Rock," Mufasa said, "right now."

Sarabi nodded her agreement. The lionesses would need someone to be strong for them. Someone who still had all their cubs intact to try and help them move forward.

"Ok," was all she could say. Mufasa picked the now trembling Simba up, as they slowly began the trip back to Pride Rock.

Eight pride members were now dead in less than twenty four hours. Things couldn't continue like this.


	14. In Aiheu We Trust

**I'm not even going to try and excuse this hideously late and hideously short chapter. On to User-Review-Reply-Section.**

**dm: Thank you very much! Have a chapter **

**Petit Princess: Your reviews are always so lovely, thank you! Also maybe seeing the actual Jesus wouldn't be that bad but ah well. Thanks for the support.**

**AuditoresGirl: I find reviews with little comments like that very encouraging and touching (blushes) Thanks for the continued support **

**DragonChild157: I'm glad you're enjoying. And thanks, I'm glad too. **

**Emerald Dreamer96: A lot of people have pointed out that "my" Scar is a lot more evil than movie-Scar. And thank you! Here's the next (a little short :/) chapter.**

**lew leon: I could never be offended **** I live for in depth critiques of my work! And, who knows what will happen next? (Oh wait, I DO, bwahahaha!)**

**Dogluver: I don't actually remember why I decided upon such a high number if I'm honest. I think it could have possibly been due to the fact that there were so many cubs, a lot of whom didn't get and probably never were going to get any real development or emotional investment anywhere in any of my stories. Well, I can't change it now; I guess we'll just have to carry on in our sadness **

**(Also it sort of stays true to real life, as less than 50% of lion cubs in the wild survive to adulthood. Though I've already been on a rant about this story not being factually accurate so let's just leave it here :P)**

**Guest: Sorry you had to wait so long **

**Simbaanaya: We're all entitled to our own opinions I suppose **

**Jtechwriter: It is, isn't it **** But I hope I explained my reasoning above well enough.**

Chapter Thirteen: In Aiheu We Trust

"_No words describe a mother's tears; no words can heal a broken heart."_

_Phil Collins, Two Worlds_

The walk back to Pride Rock was the most tense and hushed so far. The stony silence of them all came mostly from the shock of so many cub casualties, as well as the ever rising anxiety of the situation at Pride Rock. The entire scenario seemed completely inescapable: Scar's new allies were far too numerous and strong to ever hope to take out, plus all the remaining cubs' lives were hanging in the balance. Scar would stop at nothing until every last one of them was dead. Then Mufasa would be next. "_I have something special lined up for you_" was what his brother had said. It made Mufasa shudder to even imagine what this could mean.

When they reached the base of Pride Rock, Sarabi suddenly stopped. Mufasa turned to look at her, setting Simba onto the ground.

"What's the matter?" he asked, tentatively. A lot was the matter, of course, but he wanted to know what had stopped her this time, specifically.

"…I'm scared to go up there," she murmured, "for more than one reason."

Mufasa stepped in front of her, and hushed his voice so that Simba wouldn't hear him. His son was once again locked into look out mode, his injured leg lying twisted behind him.

"I know you're scared," he whispered, "I'm scared, too."

He peered up at Pride Rock behind him for a moment. It had once been a place of peace and sanctuary for them. Now, their greatest fears had found life inside of it, manifesting themselves into an unstoppable force for terrible, terrible things. He felt a shudder rack his entire body before he turned back to her.

"We're going to be okay," he continued, "I promise. I'm not going to let anything bad happen to us."

"But, what about the others?" Sarabi asked him, clearly anguished, "Bad things have already happened to them! And all those poor cubs…"

She was so emotionally exhausted that there were no more tears. Instead, her head drooped, and her breathing became shallow and ragged.

"I know," he said, as gently as possible, "but right now we have to focus on staying alive, and together. And to do that we have to go up there."

She nodded, wordlessly. She took a deep breath in, and stepped forward, slowly climbing the stone steps to Pride Rock. Mufasa picked Simba up and followed her.

The scene they arrived at was just as silent, if not more so, than their solemn journey home had been. It was not the scene of mass hysteria that any of them had expected, but the sorrow and grief could undoubtedly be felt hanging in the air. Never in anyone's living memory had so many of the pride's young been wiped out at once. The shock was so much so that no one knew what to do with the remains, so for now they lay at the end of Pride Rock's promontory, waiting to be moved to the right place for Aiheu to claim their bodies back to the earth.

The lionesses had grouped together, though no one was saying a word. A few were still silently crying, the last few tears cascading down their cheeks. A small number could be heard whispering the last few words of an age old prayer, generations old and yet still in use.

"_In Aiheu we trust…"_

The words seemed to sting at Mufasa's heart as he heard them. They trusted the gods, yes, but why had they, in return, allowed such a terribly atrocity to happen? And, as well as this, had his own cubs been spared and yet the others forced to endure such a terribly violent end? The questions flew around his head, and they were just too numerous to try and justify each one.

One pride member, however, had deliberately positioned herself away from the others. It was the lioness Felicia, Chumvi and Kula's mother, the two of whom were crouched beneath her, equally as mute as everyone else. Without a word, Sarabi hurried towards her.

"Sarabi?" she asked, hoarsely, looking up with wide eyes, "how did you make-?"

She saw Mufasa and three cubs approaching behind and stopped, her question answered.

"What about Sarafina? She hasn't come back yet."

"Nala's been hurt, badly," Mufasa said quietly, joining them, "but both of her cubs are still alive."

He hated how clinical the last few words had come out, but there was nothing he could do to change it. In all his time he had never experienced death in this sheer magnitude. He had no idea what to do or say to anyone. Even though he had been stripped of his title, he still felt a sense of duty to the pride. After all, the official "King" was hardly going to do anything about it.

Simba had shuffled closer to Chumvi and Kula, desperate to share the shock and pain of the situation with someone else. It was a suddenly apparent luxury to be in such emotional agony and to have someone else who knew how you felt. It was a frill his suffering in Scar's den had not afforded him.

"So," Simba began, shakily, "is it just…?"

Chumvi nodded back at him.

"Yeah," he croaked, "just us left."

The two of them and Kula looked to the assembled bodies not too far from them. So many of their friends, gone in an instant. Simba cast his mind back to those excruciating moments in the gorge all those moons ago, when his father had been "dead". He almost couldn't apply those same emotions to now: the others were definitely never coming back. His grief seemed to surpass the point of tears. He was past anguish. Past depression. He just felt… nothing, yet, at the same time, terrible, terrible pain. He just couldn't understand it.

An extremely long silence fell over the three of them at that point. It was uncomfortable, but calming as well. The burden of forcing a conversation had been lifted, and the relief was evident through the atmosphere surrounding them. The adults had fallen silent once more, and they all sat in the quiet, with only the sounds of the wind and the savannah to disturb it.

They all remained that way for some time. No one really noticed Sarafina, Nala and Mheetu returning. The lioness quickly hustled her cubs past the dead bodies still at the end of the promontory, and joined the smaller group, never uttering a single word. She had always been sensitive and insightful that way. It relieved the observing Mufasa that she had thought well enough not to shatter the peace that he would probably not experience for a long time after this.

And, in an instant, the inner calm he had achieved was wiped out, as the ugly head of his vile, treacherous and oh-so-hated brother loomed up from the stone steps.

**Just a short chapter for you this time around, but I hope you still liked it (it took long enough).**


	15. Important Information about the future

Dear readers

A lot has changed in the three years since I returned to writing fanfiction. The fifteen year-old who typed those first thousand-word chapters is long gone: this eighteen year-old is left. My understanding and style of writing has changed a lot. I've lived a lot more of life, and experienced a lot more – stuff like growing up, depression, death, sexuality… I've left school and my home, I'm currently in an entirely new city with entirely different people at University. My life is 100% different than it was in summer of 2011. In any case, I'm no longer a child.

Another thing that is now different is my feelings about my two most popular works thus-far: "Captive" and "Reprisal". That isn't to say I'm not proud of them, or the work I put into them, but I just don't feel good about them anymore, particularly "Reprisal", which has been sitting unfinished for more than an entire year now, at my last check. Continuing with it has felt like a chore for the longest time now, and as a result its most recent chapters were rushed and sloppy. I've backed myself into so many corners plot-wise. I had originally planned for a re-draft, but having just re-read parts of the story for the first time in about a year I can whole-heartedly say that I don't want to. From my own creative stand-point, "Reprisal" is a lost cause, one that I don't want to spend any more time or effort trying to salvage.

However, I don't plan to completely abandon this series, nor am I going to delete the stories. I'm going to fall back on an idea I have had for these past three years, ever since I finished writing "Captive".

On completion of said story, I jumped straight into its sequel. I immediately knew that someday, when I had finished whatever number of stories I wanted for the series, I would go back and re-write "Captive", to fill it with more detail, emotion, and depth. I never forgot about this desire, even when I tired myself out trying to resuscitate "Reprisal" on numerous occasions. Well, this is now what I plan to do.

"Captive" is going to be entirely re-written. The main story will be unchanged, but it will be much, _much _longer, with the above mentioned improvements. Some of my original chapters barely eclipsed 1000 words. This will definitely change.

I am reverting to this strategy because I remember how much I loved writing "Captive". I genuinely looked forward to the moments when I knew I would have time to write and upload and read the reviews that were left for me. This was true with "Reprisal" for a while, but as the clear problems began to emerge writing became much more of a task, rather than a distraction/relaxing activity that it had been before.

Once this overhaul of "Captive" is complete, in a much more satisfying form, I will progress to the sequel/s, which with any luck will be much less problem-ridden, and just overall better.

This seems like a good plan, currently. I hope readers, both old and new, will encourage/appreciate this initiative.

Thanks so much, so you all soon on the new story!

-Niñaroja


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